It's never been considered the most popular subject among the cool kids at school - but a former child star was in town to change that.
She's attempting to convince girls to take a second look at math and to see themselves as mathematicians.
The bane of a scholastic career for some students can be summed up in one word - math. Some never even considered a career using the seemingly complicated subject. But one wonder woman was in town to tell girls math doesn't suck.
Known most of her childhood as Winnie Cooper of The Wonder Years, actress Danica McKellar says it wasn't until her freshman year at UCLA when she recognized her true gift.
"I was being praised for something that had nothing to do with Winnie Cooper, which is what I'd been praised for everyday. 'Omg, Winnie Cooper.' which is great but it made me feel all empty on the inside because it wasn't me, it was this whole other persona," said mathematician Danica McKellar.
Now the applause comes because of her ability to solve problems and she says she owes it all to math.
"How many of you plan on taking math in college? You don't have to lie," said McKellar. "Math is usually thought of as anti-social and just for nerds and boys and it's not. Math is a language. You can talk about anything in the language of math. You can talk about your taxes or you talk about a formula for a new nail polish. Whatever it is, math is the language for it. It's all around us all the time."
That's the message she had for some Decatur High School students. And it's a message she specifically gears towards girls. McKellar has written three books, one of which is a best seller called "Math Doesn't Suck."
"Math is for you. You can be a fabulous engineer. You can wear four inch heels and save the world at the same time."
McKeller says math isn't just about x's and y's or positives and negatives, it's about gaining confidence and a sense of accomplishment and then using that to solve life's problems.
"Life is a series of obstacles that we have to overcome -- that's just how it is. And as you get better at that at a younger age, you'll have more confidence in knowing that I tackled that really hard math problem and I thought that was impossible, whatever this problem is, I'm going to tackle that now and see how it goes."
"To see her writing books and helping out young girls, it's really awesome and inspiring. And it just makes me think wow all celebrities aren't what you think they are," said senior Stephanie Carter.
"Math is a tool that empowers you to be a problem solver, to believe in yourself and to overcome challenges," said McKellar.
McKellar was in town as a part of DeVry University's Herworld Program. It provides an opportunity for high school girls to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
To read the full story and watch the video interview featured on My FOX Atlanta's website, please clickhere.
