At the sound of the bell, I hurried out of class. I knew where I wanted to go, yet I hesitated remembering my conversation with my mom that morning. “Are you going to Chemistry Club during your free period?” she asked. “Maybe” I replied unenthusiastically. “There is also a craft in the library to make magnets with banned book quotes. I might go to that….” There was silence. “I can always go to Chemistry Club next week.” I added. Mom frowned. “Chemistry Club is a great opportunity, Maya.” She told me. “None of my friends will go.” I complained. “That doesn’t matter.” she said. “You should do what interests you, regardless of everyone else.” I didn’t reply. “You don’t know if your friends are going to magnet making either.” Mom pointed out. “Magnet making is fun even if I go alone.” I mumbled. Mom sighed. “Well, if I were you, I’d go to chemistry club, but you should do whatever you want” she ended the conversation. I knew what that meant… but I headed for the library. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m not interested in Chemistry Club. I am, and on a normal Friday, I’d be more then happy to go. It’s just that when I have the opportunity to go to a craft, it’s crystal clear to me that I should take it. That week I already went to Math Club, Investment Club, and Model UN. This was my chance. I couldn’t wait. I love crafts, decorating, and all the magnets we have on our fridge. What could be better then making magnets to decorate my locker? The library was packed when I got there. Students crowded around the tables, laughing and talking. I smiled. I hoped I hadn’t arrived too late. Had everyone already gotten started? I quickly walked in. But suddenly, I noticed something. One table was empty. And, that table was the only one with magnets, paper, and bottles of glue. Then I noticed that the students in the library had books in front of them. They were studying. There was no one else there to make magnets. I wasn’t sure what to do. Chemistry club was still happening upstairs. I could turn around and go there now. But I didn’t. I’d been too excited to give up that easily. One of the librarians came up to me. “Are you here to make magnets?” she asked. “Yes,” I whispered in an unsure voice. She smiled. “Is anyone here to make magnets?” she called to the entire library. No one moved. “Let me know when you are ready to use the glue gun.” She told me. “Make as many as you want!” I sat down at the table. I glanced through the papers. There were quotes from books, pictures of book covers, and pictures that say “I read banned books.” I couldn’t wait to start. The door opened behind me. I turned around and to my surprise my friend came in. I rarely see her because she’s not in my grade and is very busy with tons of activities. That’s why I hadn’t even asked her if she was coming to this event. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I said with happiness and relief when she joined me. “I’m the only one that came to make magnets.” “Really?” she asked in surprise. “No one wants to make magnets?” We spent the rest of the time laughing, cutting, and gluing. Magnet making had not disappointed me. My mom was right. I followed my heart, regardless of who came, and in the end I got rewarded.
Playing in the Youth Orchestra
My dad parked the car in the parking lot of the performing arts center. I hopped out of the car. It wasn’t the first time I had been there. My family often came here to listen to concerts. But this time, something was different. I wasn’t here to listen. I was here to play. I grabbed my violin and followed my parents to the staircase. I was excited. I had been aspiring to get into orchestra almost ever since I started the violin. What could be more exciting than actually being there? I was also nervous. I knew that orchestra wouldn’t be easy. Was I ready? It was my first time going to the youth orchestra, and I had no idea what to expect. We walked up the stairs to the orchestra rehearsal room. I entered the huge room. The other kids stood at the edges opening cases. In the middle of the room, the chairs and music stands were set up and ready for the rehearsal. The conductor told us that our folders were on our stands. I quickly found mine and sat down. Next to the folder were four songs that we would be playing. I glanced at them. I was curious what they would be. One of them had sixty fourth notes. One of them went all the way into eighth position. All of them would go fast. None of them were easy. I sighed. I had known it would be hard. I hadn’t expected it to be this challenging, but it was fine. I would have plenty of time to learn the songs. At least I hoped so. The conductor came to the front of the room. He welcomed us to the orchestra and gave us information. Then, we started playing. We started sight reading the first piece. My stand partner’s fingers easily moved along the fingerboard of her violin. But I was lost. Still, I tried my best and was able to play some of the easiest sections of the music. I would have to practice the complicated sections a lot at home. I was sure that eventually I’d be able to do it. I’d be ready for the concert in January. Practice makes perfect, right? In the next few weeks, we got even more music. Then, the conductor announced that in three weeks, on October 27, we would have an extra concert with a university orchestra. We were going to play three songs there. One piece went into high positions, it had fast parts, and the whole thing went at lightening speed. It was the hardest piece we had gotten so far, and we didn’t have long to learn it. Preparing for the concert was terrifying. Before I had auditioned to get into the orchestra, my teacher had told me that she wasn’t sure if I was ready. “You’re on the fence.” She told me. But I had been determined to get in. I longed to be part of the orchestra. And when I auditioned, I got in. Still, I wondered if maybe I hadn’t been ready. Maybe orchestra was too hard for me. As the concert got closer, I got even more nervous. I tried to practice the pieces. But although practice makes perfect, I wasn’t sure I could do it in the time I had. Just getting them to a level where I could play most of the notes at the tempo was challenging enough without worrying about dynamics or tuning. It felt like no time before October 27. My dad parked the car in the parking lot of the performing arts center. I hopped out of the car. I grabbed my violin and headed to the door. I was both nervous and excited. Inside, I met many of my friends that are also in orchestra. We talked and laughed as we headed to the practice room. 3 hours later, we sat down in the seats of the auditorium ready to watch the first half of the concert before playing the second half. While the players tuned, we laughed at the typos in the program. Then we listened to the music that was played. It was as enchanting as a witch’s spell. After the songs ended, there was a costume parade since it was right before Halloween. My friends and I whispered about our favorite costumes. My favorite was the peacock. Finally, it was our turn. We got our instruments and took our places on the stage. Then the second half of the concert began. I lifted my violin. The first note sounded loud and clear and the magnificent piece began. I didn’t play perfectly. But, I also didn’t play terribly. When we left, I was grinning from ear to ear. It was a day filled with lots of excitement and fun.
Summer Math Camp
Illustration by Megan M. Gannett, 13, from her story Swaying in the Breeze, published in our December 2016 issue I jumped out of the car and closed the door behind me. I ran up the sidewalk towards the house where math camp was being held. A few other kids were also arriving then and I followed them into the house. I left my shoes with everyone else’s, by the door, and went inside. I sat down on the carpet where the other kids were sitting and we played a fun game called Sushi Go to start the day. When we were done, one of the kids asked if we could play again, but the teachers said we had to start doing math stuff. We started a new activity which was math-related, a magic trick. You can figure out the trick using math and that was what we were supposed to do. We all sat around trying to think. We had a few guesses but we couldn’t completely figure it out. Then we started working on a problem sheet. We had only been working for five minutes or so when the dog came in. He walked under the table and everyone started petting him and forgot all about the math. Then he walked out and lay down on the side and we went back to math. What do you think of when you think of summer? Most people, including me, think of sunshine, lemonade, swimming, and the beach. I don’t usually think of math. But for one week this summer, I went to math camp. I did it gladly. It was a lot of fun. Actually, a lot of my friends are also doing math camp this summer. Parents want kids to get excited about the topics they learn in school. Yet, a lot of kids feel like the math they learn in school is boring and hard. Going to math camp can be a chance to get kids excited about math. Some math camps make math more exciting by teaching advanced topics that are usually taught in college. One example is cryptography which uses math to create codes to send secret messages. By introducing it to kids they see how useful math is and that makes them feel excited. But teaching advanced topics also has its downside. One day, when I was at Girls Who Code, I was introduced to some problems in cryptography. It was a lot of fun to learn something so cool and interesting. However I didn’t feel like I fully understood it. I think that when you learn something complicated like that, you feel a little bit like you aren’t learning the real thing and you are just learning an easier version. You also feel like you don’t completely understand what they are teaching. Sometimes it is because it is too complicated, given the math you know. And sometimes even though it is simplified, the teachers can’t fully explain it in a simplified way, so you are confused about the part they don’t explain. The problems I did at my math camp this year were about the factors of numbers which required knowing what kids already learn in school, multiplication and counting. The material was at our level so we could fully understand it. Beyond that we needed to use reasoning skills. One problem we did asked us to find the smallest number with sixteen factors that doesn’t divide by six. Understanding what the problem is asking is easy but finding that number quickly is not so straightforward. I was sitting next to a friend of mine that is a little younger then me. “Do you want to work together?” I asked her. “Sure,” she said. I took my pencil and started writing out the different cases on the sheet. The problem isn’t that hard, but it would take forever to check numbers until you find one that works. Instead you have to construct a prime factorization that you know would have sixteen factors because of the powers. There are different options, but it is easy to find the smallest one. You also know that the number can either divide by two or divide by three but cannot divide by both two and three because it doesn’t divide by six. My friend and I talked about the problem and ruled out the cases that didn’t work, until we were left with the answer which was 280. I smiled. Solving the problem felt good. It always feels good to solve a math problem. Sometimes I figure out how to use a new technique even though I am not sure I can do the problem, but in this case it was because I felt good that I knew how to approach the problem. When you first see it, it’s hard to know how to get started. You could just try things but that seems like an endless task. I was lucky because I had seen such problems before. Either way, I still felt a sense of accomplishment. So in my opinion you don’t have to do an advanced topic to get excited about math. You can do simple problems. The excitement comes from solving a problem from beginning to end and fully understanding it. That is what is empowering. And like the cryptography problems, the problems I did are not only empowering, they are also cool. My dad who teaches classes at college thought the problems were so cool that he decided to give some of them at the university in the fall. Does that make it slightly more exciting for me? Maybe.
