Class of 2029: Kiahna Roberts, math whiz and future architect

Math didn’t come naturally to Kiahna Roberts — not when she was younger. She didn't give up, though. It fueled her motivation to succeed.

“It made me want to do better in math,” Roberts says. “I kept with it, taking harder math classes. It wasn’t until junior year when I took AP Calculus AB that I really got into math. Calculus was so interesting, and it was something I really understood.”

She decided to join her school’s chapter of the math honor society, Mu Alpha Theta. She began as the club’s historian and then became its director of events.

As part of her work with the club, she ran the organization’s social media accounts and organized signature events such as a Math Scavenger Hunt, which involved groups of students going around the whole school solving math problems. More than 100 people participated in the event. Roberts also led the charge in organizing a Pi Bee — think math spelling bee. Participants were asked to recite the sequence of pi (3.14159….), and whoever could recite the most digits correctly would win the challenge.

Her tenacity in pursuing math paid off — she became an expert on the subject and excelled at the highest levels of math.

She successfully completed a variety of AP courses (and exams) in areas including computer science, government, Calculus AB, Calculus BC and environmental science. She was part of the Cambridge program at Pembroke Pines Charter High School. She graduated in the top 10% of her class and also earned her AICE Diploma through the Cambridge program.

Outside of school, Roberts decided to serve the community by helping furry friends. She volunteered at the Broward Humane Society every summer since her freshman year.

Throughout her time there, she worked mostly taking care of cats. “A lot of the cats would come in distrusting humans,” Roberts says. “So I had to help socialize the cats so they could be adopted in the future. I would care for them, make sure they were doing ok and were well fed. I would try to earn their trust and play with them.”

“As I formed a connection with the cats, I started really loving them," she says. She plans to do her part to care for cats in the world by adopting a cat in the future. 

She begins at FIU this fall as an architecture major.

Becoming a Panther

For Roberts, FIU runs in the family. Her grandmother, Brenda Jones, earned a bachelor’s in public administration from FIU in 1988. Various family members followed suit, including — most recently — Roberts’ sister Kaiya, who graduated with a bachelor’s in computer science in 2024 and returned to FIU to earn her graduate degree in the College of Engineering and Computing.

Roberts heard all about FIU from her sister. 

“I really like what the FIU experience is like,” Roberts says. “Hearing my sister talk about Panther Camp, F1rst Night, the places at FIU, being inside the 8^th Street Campus Kitchen, all the stuff that happens the first week of school, it sounded great.”

Roberts also felt that FIU gave her the ideal option for education. She's part of an accelerated program that allows freshmen to earn their master's in architecture in five years. 

“With that program, I feel that FIU is giving me the best chance from all the other colleges in the state to pursue architecture and stay in Florida,” Roberts says.