By: Angelina Yang

I had a lot on my plate during the summer between the middle and high school transitions. I had one week “off” before I started the intense summer plan. Even so, that week was not a break. Knowing that I would need to prepare for Online Geometry HN Summer Course, I needed to do lots in preparation. Ever since childhood, math was not my strong suit and never my field of expertise. It would take an hour or two to complete and study for my other subjects. Whereas for math I would need more than two hours.

Nonetheless, I would still complete all my math. But it was always something that bothered me. I knew that I wasn’t very good at math, but I was still ok. Then during middle school, my friends started to get ahead of me in math. At first, it was not something I was too concerned about, but as the school year started some people would ask me what math I was in, and I would say “I am in Algebra 1 Honors”, the reaction I got from some of them was not too pleasing. They would distance themselves and make shocked faces.

One day I was just walking done the hall and someone asked me what math I was in, and when I told him, he said “Oh, you look so smart” then just grinned and left. Honestly, I did not like the way he treated me, it was like he was judging me because of which math class I was in. I thought about it and decided to let it go since the opinion of others should not be the cause of your distress.

The school year went on and everything was fine until one day. I do not remember exactly what happened, but it was a rather eye-opening experience. It was after school, at one of our debate meetings. My teammate asked me what classes I was taking, so I told him. I found out that he was in Geometry HN. Then he said, “You are not Asian”. I was extremely taken aback, and very mad. A few months later I was talking to a group of my friends, and the same person walked up to me and said to my friends “You guys are too smart for Angelina” since the group of people I was talking to was all in Algebra 2 HN. I felt uncomfortable and left the group. A few weeks later that person came up to me and apologized for his actions. But it was then that I was determined to prove myself to myself and live up to my full potential. So, I decided to take a vigorous summer math course (Summer Online Geometry HN). The math course was really hard, to say the least, and required my whole day for six whole weeks. During the course, I had to manage my time well, and it was a perfect class to really feel what high school is going to be like. Now, I am currently in Marching Band camp, at my high school. This camp is all day from August 2 through the 18th. I really want to thank that person, because without him saying those words, I wouldn’t have such a strong motivation to keep going. I came down to one conclusion from both the summer course and Marching Band so far, keep going persistence is key to success, but put your health above all.

Dear Ms. Unger,

I am so glad to have such an amazing editor as you! I don’t really want to publish this piece since this was more of a personal reflection and honestly sort of rant. So I don’t think that this piece is really meant to be published. I am sorry that I didn’t have time to do the revisions, but I will make time for them on the weekends Thank you so much for your patience!

Sincerely,

Angelina Yang

PS. That person was also Asian, and most Asians at my school took Algebra 2 HN in 8th grade when I was taking Algebra 1 HN

Math order Pre-Algebra, Pre-Algebra HN, Algebra 1, Algebra 1 HN, Geometry HN, Algebra 2 HN