my bio*

I guess I should start at the beginning.... I was born in 1979 in Trinidad, which is a small country in the West Indies. My sister came into being two years later, and while she was not blessed with my impressive mental acuity, she was lucky enough to not be born with my many physical deformities. Although my family left for the U.S. in 1982, I will never forget the good times I had in Trinidad, especially when I was awarded 'Employee of the Month' in June of 1981 for my good work in a Nike sweatshop.

We arrived in California and my parents bought a house in Walnut, which is a modest fishing village in the San Gabriel Valley. I went to Oswalt Elementary School, where I skipped the 2nd grade, as my finger-painting and coloring abilities tested off the charts. In 6th grade, I won both the school math competition and the District spelling bee. Fortunately for me, I won these events in 6th grade, and not in high school, where I would likely have been mercilessly beaten up and thrown into trash cans.

Junior high at Rincon Middle School was basically 2 years of suck. It was so sucky in fact, that the school no longer exists.

Onto Walnut High School, where I graduated (on my 17th birthday, in fact) in June of 1996, after 4 years of being an awkward gawky hobbledehoy. I then matriculated at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA, where I became globally recognized in 2000 during my senior year for discovering the numbers 244 and -18. Later that year I graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science and Math. 

After that I spent 2 uneventful years as a programmer (also known in some circles as a "code monkey") for Wilshire Associates in Santa Monica. Aside from the tedious work, incompetent supervisors, long work hours, windowless cubicles, bad commute, and mediocre salary, it was a dream job! It was so fantastic in fact that I decided to get into teaching, so that I may serve as a warning to others. 

My journey started with a 3-year stint at Taft High School (which I enjoyed) before moving over to Arcadia High School for 2 years (which was one of the worst decisions of my life).  Fortunately for me a position opened up at Covina High School, and I finally found somewhere I felt comfortable - I worked there for 14 years!  

After Covid, I felt like I should move closer to family so I decided to make the move to Oregon and got a job at Amity High School, which was... not a great fit.  I was able to find another job at Catlin Gabel School, which is my very first private school experience, and so far it's been great!

In the middle of all that teaching, I decided that I loved math so much that I went for a Master's in Math at Cal State Fullerton!  It took 5 semesters, but no big deal - I got a 4.0 GPA there without even breaking a sweat.  How?  Because I'm just that awesome, that's why.

In my spare time, I enjoy games of all types - board games, video games, gambling games, and of course playing mind games.  I dabble in Scrabble.  I might be world class in Rummikub.

My musical tastes are varied, but they usually range from really bad rap music to really bad popular music. 

Feel free to drop by the math office and say hi sometime, especially if you'd like to discuss how 'Dumb & Dumber' may be perhaps the most underrated film in cinematic history.

If you would like to get in touch with me, e-mail me at amasugam@catlin.edu and I will get back to you as quickly as humanly possible.

*Note: Some of the facts listed above may have been embellished or fabricated completely, in order to create a more interesting biography.