“Good job, Young!” Ms. Smith, my eight-grade science teacher exclaimed. A sense of pride rushed through my head as I looked down happily at my notebook after answering a question about convection. By then, I was sure that I thoroughly enjoyed the subject of science. But I had a rather unusual journey to loving science and math.
In the fourth grade, I was introduced to the subject of science. Even though our class was conducting rudimentary experiments, I was still fascinated by the fact that mung bean seeds could grow into a yellow seedling in a dark closet. Before I moved to the United States, I went to public school in China, which did not begin a science curriculum until middle school. So, in a way, I didn’t know anything about science until then. The subject captured me before I could realize, and I knew I was interested in it.
In math class, I was doing well and getting placed into higher classes. But I never considered math to be my favorite subject – though I did well adding fractions together and doing long division, I didn’t necessarily like it. Through hazy and indifferent feelings, I had no ardent passion towards STEM. Little did I know that my love for science and math will be fully realized when I am in middle school. In the seventh grade, I joined the Science Olympiad team at my school. The team met weekly to work on STEM related events. I was assigned to participate in anatomy and physiology as well as ecology.
With each meeting, I felt increasingly drawn to the subject. While researching about the integumentary system and different types of muscle cells, I made connections between this information and what I was learning at school. While performing an experiment in optics with my partner, we discovered an efficient way to redirect lasers. And at a regional competition, I was able to take home a first place and sixth place medal. This made me feel amazing about my abilities in STEM and fueled the fire for my interest in science. In math, my drive to excel led me to start loving the subject. While a majority of my peers were taking high school math, I was still enrolled in a middle school math class.
This ironically ended being the reason that I became obsessed with the subject. In order to catch up to my peers, I went the extra mile to teach myself high school math on the internet. Eventually, I was able to catch up and then surpass my peers in high school. In an inexplicable manner, my achievements as well as positive feedback from my teachers led me to being devoted to STEM. Presently, my interest in STEM is supported in my high school in the form of advanced classes and some clubs.
My school offers advanced placement classes in many STEM areas, and has a few clubs for those interested in STEM, like a programming club and Science Olympiad team. I also think that my teachers do a great job in supporting students who are passionate about STEM by providing extra opportunities to students and encouraging students. Nonetheless, I do feel like I am not challenged enough at my high school; which is why I feel like this summer opportunity is a perfect chance for me to learn and further explore my interests in STEM.
