When did you get started with Math Circles of Chicago?

I began when I was in seventh grade, online during the pandemic, when a teacher at my school brought it up. I was kind of struggling with math in school back then. I was very pleasantly surprised: I thought it was going to be just another math class for me to stay on track with the same things we were doing in class. When I saw it was more like puzzles and brainteasers I thought “oh, this is interesting!” and it worked my mind in a different way. I honestly didn’t like math very much before I started taking those math circles.

What impact did those math circles have on your attitude towards math as you moved from middle to high school?

I learned that there’s more to math than just what is being taught in the classroom. It’s interesting how we call both of these things math: the boring subjects that I didn’t like in my traditional class and the fun things from math circles. It helped me be more open-minded, and to look for the interesting angles in subjects I thought I didn’t like.

What was most impactful about your experience in the education pathway working as a High School Assistant?

Kids see the world a different way, and they all approach problems differently. The 3rd and 4th graders I taught found different ways to solve the problems than I did. As I grew up, my schooling taught me to focus on mostly one way to see a problem, but working as an assistant opened me up to more viewpoints, either from the students or my lead teacher, Ms. Smith.

What did you learn about being an educator?

Growing up I always wanted to be a teacher. Being an HSA gave me a sense of what it’s like, and I realized it’s a really challenging job. It’s something I wrote about on my extracurricular resume for college applications. I want to keep working as a sub when I’m in college; lots of schools need volunteers in classrooms and that’s something that I want to keep doing in Wisconsin. This experience fueled my passion for teaching more!