Jessica Newville is out to change the pervasive view that math is hard and most definitely not fun.

Newville, 22, plans to take on that ambitious goal one classroom of teenagers at a time, teaching algebra to high school freshmen.

"I feel really strongly that society doesn't have a positive outlook for math," said Newville, who will start this fall in the yearlong teacher preparation program at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. "That was always my favorite subject, so I want to change that attitude, even if it's only with the 30 kids in my classroom."

Now, she is going to get some help with her goal.

Newville is one of 33 future teachers nationwide who recently received fellowships from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation, founded in 1999 to encourage college students majoring in math or science to go into teaching.

The foundation also hopes to improve the prestige of teaching, Executive Director Angelo Collins said.

"Teaching is a very difficult and complex task," Collins said. "It's worthy of the best and brightest in our society to help students understand what math and science are all about."

The fellowship will provide Newville with $150,000 over five years once she has a classroom of her own. She will be free to spend the money as she likes, as long as she can convince the foundation that the expense will benefit students.

The foundation has paid for everything from chemicals to white boards to Spanish- immersion classes, Collins said. "The key is that it must promote inquiry and problem- solving," she said.

Newville has received the fellowship at a time when pundits are saying the United States must produce more people trained in math and science if it's going to hold its place in the global economy.

At the same time, educators are calling for more women to go into the so-called STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and math.

Yet high schools continue to struggle to find qualified math and science teachers.

For Newville, teaching allows her to combine her two passions — math and working with teenagers. She hopes to teach beginning algebra, specifically because it can open or close doors to higher-level classes and, more importantly, influence how students feel about math for the rest of their lives.

"Algebra 1 is a tough subject," said Newville, who earned a bachelor's degree in math at CLU and lives in Woodland Hills. "It makes or breaks a student in math sometimes. They come into algebra with a really negative attitude already.

"So I will not only have to teach math but will have to change that attitude, help them see why this is important."

The fellowship, she said, will provide a sense of community in a profession that can be isolating, allowing her to communicate online with fellow math and science teachers across the country. She'll be able to ask colleagues about teaching strategies and lesson plans, about how she can improve her teaching so students grasp a subject that is sometimes frustratingly abstract.

Newville realizes she could make a lot more money if she went into business. She hears it all the time, she said.

"People ask me that a lot: If I have a math degree, why not get a job that's more lucrative?'" she said. "But if I did that, I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't feel I was making a difference."