How Creativity Influences Learning by Sarah
Sarah's entry into Varsity Tutor's January 2026 scholarship contest
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How Creativity Influences Learning by Sarah - January 2026 Scholarship Essay
I can remember all the times I've been staring at math homework, frustrated by graphs and equations that were a confusing mess. In those moments, I'd give up and turn to Adobe After Effects.
Video editing has been my passion since 7th grade-combining different photos, videos, and sounds into one seamless video relieves my stress. But what I hadn't realized was that my creative hobby was filled with exactly what stressed me out: math.
After Effects relies on keyframes to animate elements, and keyframe timing is governed by math. Each keyframe represents a value at a specific moment in time, and animating an object involves calculating its position or rotation over time. The process of smoothing transitions between keyframes with easing equations directly connects to concepts in calculus, where rates of change are calculated.
Like the parabolas and quadratics in math that would confuse me, the keyframes and curves I used to create my videos relied on precise calculations. The graph editor required me to utilize bezier curves to control my images' motion paths, which were based on polynomials.Only by being able to understand the graphs that often mimicked trigonometric functions, was I able to piece together transitions that were smooth.
As I began to appreciate the math behind video editing, the frustration I felt over math faded. My creative process in After Effects was a form of applied mathematics, where each motion and transition depended on carefully considered formulas and functions.
Through video editing, I've learned that creativity and math are not separate worlds, but two sides of the same coin. Whether it's silly edits of celebrities, or finding the slope of a tangent line, both require the same levels of concentration and calculations required to solve the math problem and complete the edit.
The math concepts I once found intimidating now are a part of an activity and hobby that brings me joy.
