PARIS — It’s about what you know, not necessarily how you learned it, said Allen Gerry, a nationally honored mathematician and longtime coach of the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School math team.

“The world is changing,” he said, with young people getting their education at home, online, at college and at businesses.

Case in point is Benjamin Murphy of West Paris who is home-schooled. He is a part-time student of math and science at the University of Maine in Farmington and the University of Southern Maine with a 4.0 GPA. He has applied for entrance to Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. He founded an award-winning technology start-up company called Goals With Friends, has taught at a summer enrichment program, volunteers for Maine Harvest For Hunger and is ranked the third-highest high school student in the state for competitive math.

He turned 15 last week.

Murphy lives with his parents, Barbara and Michael Murphy, and has been home-schooled by his father since he was young. His father, owner of a nursery, helped spark his interest in math.

“He’s a fabulous teacher,” the teen said.

It was through his father’s connection to the summer enrichment program Learning Opportunities for Our Kids four years ago that Ben Murphy became connected with the Oxford Hill Comprehensive High School math team in Paris. Then he just took off.

“I enjoy the competition at the high school level. That’s what triggered my love of math,” Murphy said.

He wasn’t the best math student at the age of 11 when he joined the team but he soon rose through the ranks, competing against high-level student mathematicians from Hebron Academy, Fryeburg Academy, the Maine School of Mathematics and Science in Limestone and other schools in the state. He has been team captain the past two years.

This year, Murphy won numerous awards with the team. He was the second-highest scorer in the Pi-Cone North Math League, the third highest scorer in the Maine Association of Math Leagues and one of only seven students to earn a perfect score at this year’s state math meet. A total of 960 students from 96 high schools competed.

As a member of the Maine All-Star Math Team for the fourth-straight year, he will compete with the team at the 38th annual American Regions Mathematics League’s competition at Penn State University in June.

Gerry is a star mathematician himself. He was named best math teacher in the state and received the National Science Foundation 1986 Presidential Award for excellence. He said the key for a student like Ben is not only his gift, but how hard he works to attain his goals.

“Ben works very hard. It’s an important ingredient. You’re gifted because you want to do it at your best,” he said.

Murphy was apprehensive about joining the high school math team at first because of his age. But he found the competition and camaraderie of the math league the key to his advancement in math. Even though he was competing against much older students, Murphy said he thrived on it. With a new friend and mentor in older student Zane Duffany, now a student at the University of Maine, the transition was made easier.

The students learned how to solve problems together. They connect, Gerry said of the team.

“Math became more of a social experience,” Murphy said. “I enjoy the competition at the high school level. That’s what triggered my love of math.”

While he primarily focuses on computer science and math, Murphy said that if he does attend college he might minor in psychology and neuroscience.

While Murphy has dropped out of the University of Maine for now to focus on other goals such as his company and college applications, he said his education has always been nontraditional.

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