Ever since I was little, there has been a lot of turbulence in my life. My mom and I immigrated to the United States when I was 7, and have lived here ever since. We had some financial challenged our first five years of living here and had to move from house to house very frequently, often staying with friends for a month of two, and then renting. I did not know English when we came here, which was a huge barrier for me. I remember my first day of second grade, which was my first time at an American School. I couldn't understand what anyone was saying and was lost. However, when we got to the math portion of the day I thrived. The numbers all made sense to me and I was able to communicate my answers effectively even with the language barrier. It took me approximately three months to learn English and after that everything got better. I was able to participate in everything and made friends. My 2nd-grade social life was abundant and thriving. However, things took a turn for the worse. I was always bored. I dreaded going to school, nothing was ever challenging enough. Class sizes were at least 30 kids per class, so my teachers had enough to deal with and were not able to individually help every single student. My mom found a program for me called the University of Minnesota Talentend Youth Mathematics Program, or UMTYMP for short. Thanks to this program, I was able to complete four years of high school math in two, and then go on to take calculus I, II, III, and Differential Equations with Linear Algebra before the age of 15. When I solve math problems, I am extremely happy. Analytical thinking is something that figuratively massages my brain. I've also made some wonderful friends in the classes that I've taken. Overall, math is something that has stayed with me throughout my entire life and I am planning on pursuing higher education in math.

"I feel like they're in a COD (Call of Duty) waiting room! They're all just making TikToks, it doesn't feel real." This was overheard at a school where I tutor math at. This statement was made at the start of the Ukrainian-Russian war and in relation to the media coverage of the Ukrainian soldiers. As I overheard this, I shuddered. People are dying, I thought. This seemed incredibly tragic, as my mom and I immigrated from Russia in 2012, and know a lot of people who are affected by this war. I wouldn't be fully surprised to see something like this in an online chat room, however, this was not in an online chat room but very much IRL (in real life). Because of the extensive coverage of the war, and of the TikToks that various people were making, this student felt like that war wasn't "real." Not only is this horrifying, but it is also jarring because of how much the media and online gaming have changed the ways that we interpret information. Throughout the years I've also heard my friends' vocabularies dwindle as they shrugged off reading and logged on to their browsers. They'll frequently use abbreviations instead of the words themselves and their interactions have gotten to be monotonous. A lot of them have also developed social anxiety because of their lack of interaction with other humans. COVID-19 has changed a lot of the ways that we do things and has made contactless options more accessible than ever. This is a spectacular thing because it allowed us to stay safe during the height of the pandemic, however, it also enabled a lot of people to completely disregard social norms and become hermits of sorts. There's a Japanese term called hikikomori, which stands for "a form of severe social withdrawal." Although people are brought together by video games, I'm not saying they're all bad, they are also actively withdrawing and distancing themselves from other humans.

When I was 13, I walked into a room full of boys. This was my algebra I and II class for that year. Almost all of my teachers, with the exception of two, were male. Not only was there barely anyone other than cishet white men as my educators, but there were no queer faculty in the math department at the time. I knew that in the STEM field, minorities were not actively welcomed, however, I was still shocked as to how little diversity there actually is. This made me feel incredibly discouraged because I wanted to (and still want to) pursue a career in STEM. Yet this left me to grapple with the idea of whether or not I would be accepted in that field. I wanted to make some kind of a difference, so I went and started tutoring at a local high school. I've had quite a few members of the LGBTQIA+ community come to me with questions and I felt on top of the world as they understood and also began to love math. Even now, as I'm completing my last core requirement for a Bachelor of Science, in Mathematics, at 16, I have only had two female teachers, and my classes still consist primarily of cishet white men. There is one other LGBTQIA+ individual in my 4-thousand-level course (Elementary Real Analysis) and we hit it off immediately. It is my favorite class this semester because of the interaction that I get to have with them four times a week. I feel more welcomed and less like I have to suppress my individuality and my queerness. No one has ever been hostile to me in any of my STEM classes, but no one has been actively welcoming either. I feel like this is something that everyone collectively needs to work on. No one likes feeling left out and our society is very good at marginalizing anyone who is a part of a minority. Making people feel welcome and accepted leads to more productive learning for everyone. There is a lot of unrest in the country right now about issues concerning LGBTQIA+ individuals and a lot of people are experiencing malevolent behavior towards them, outside and inside of STEM. I wish to see the STEM field become more open towards everyone, but especially towards members of minorities.