𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞.

“I don’t love studying. I hate studying... I like learning. Learning is beautiful.” - Natalie Portman

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When I stumbled across the #subjectlove challenge, I found myself giving a surprising amount of thought into what subject I might choose. I considered maths, as the inner workings of numbers have always (thankfully) come naturally to me, but then there’s also english, a subject that’s always allowed me to express myself creatively and explore how others do the same. But, that’s not all. Science allows me to understand the world and even connect with it on a deeper level of understanding, while history puts everything into context and encourages me to learn about multiple perspectives, about mistakes and learnings people have come across through the progression of time.

So, what do they all have in common?

Learning.

I learn different, yet interconnected things from each of these subjects, so here are my favorite things about learning each one!

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Math was the first and easiest subject for me to love. I have one memory of second grade me eagerly awaiting the day my teacher asked what twelve times twelve was, so that I could raise my hand and yell, “144!” at the top of my lungs. She did ask, one day, and you won’t believe how disappointed I was when she didn’t call on me.

I also taking tons of math tests, and sometimes there’d be a challenge multiplication section. We hadn’t learned multiplication yet, but one day I decided to give it a try. I got every single problem in that section wrong, but hey, I then proceeded to go home and learn all about it myself. You better believe I wasn’t going to let the multiplication section defeat me again.

We all those timed tests we encountered in fourth grade, and I had so much fun challenging other students to race on them. It was all good natured, though, we cheered each other on. The type of ‘go get ‘em!’ attitude I’d adopted towards math has stayed with me because of my early experiences with it, and that’s something I’m endlessly grateful for. Sure, I can say learning math comes easy to me, but when it doesn’t, like for the first time this year in my school’s college level precalculus class, I can always turn back to my resilience. That isn’t something I can say I’ve got for learning every subject. Plus, the feeling I get when I solve a difficult problem is really one of my favorites :)

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In of english, creative writing is the first thing I was introduced to. In my first story ever, I wrote about a cheeseburger king, who lived in a cheeseburger castle and liked to watch television on his cheeseburger TV (all edible, by the way). In fourth grade, I wrote a story about unicorns, except they were grotesque, lizard-like creatures instead of the sparkly horse-like ones we all know. I still don’t know where I pulled that one out from.

And in ninth grade, I was assigned to my first novella, twenty pages in double spaced 12 point times new roman. I thought it was super crazy long at the time. I wrote about a female immigrant Italian assassin in the mafia who struggled with inner conflict and guilt during the suffrage movement-needless to say, it got really deep. I getting my story back, and in my teacher’s loopy handwriting, I read that she thought I had a talent for writing. Since then, creative writing has really stuck with me, to the point where I applied to be the editor-in-chief of my school’s literary arts magazine.

Argumentation is something that I get really excited about. It allows me to see multiple perspectives, even the ones I don’t agree with. I’m a firm believer in looking every angle of something or someone, cause we all have plenty to learn from each other. I was also introduced to rhetoric in more depth just this year, in AP Language. As unfamiliar as it is, it’s fascinating to observe the strategies writers include in persuasive essays, and what feelings they evoke from the reader. That’s just the thing, though. Only writing can make you really feel. In that aspect, it really is a special subject.

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I’m just going to say it right now: science has always been my most difficult subject to learn. I think it has to do with how conceptual it is, and how little exposure I’ve had to that growing up. But, it’s also the subject that I think leaves me the most mystified at the end of the class period.

In freshman year biology, I had to sit back and process everything that is apparently going on in my body at any given moment. And then, wonder how exactly all of it came to be. And, how much more of it there is in the rest of the world. Science provides explanations for the most unusual of phenomena, and there’s still so much more that we don’t know. The universe is an extremely complex machine, so much so that calling it a complex machine doesn’t nearly do it justice. And while all of this I knew, it really came at me during biology. So, I took physics and chemistry at the same time during my sophomore year, and I definitely preferred them over biology. For me, biology was more based on understanding concepts, while chemistry seemed more math, and physics seemed like a mix of both. I don’t know how accurate that really is, but anything having to do with math was more my forte.

I decided to take AP Physics this year, my junior year, because of several reasons: my school doesn’t offer AP Chemistry, I didn’t feel like tackling AP Biology just yet, and I could use a better understanding of physics. It’s been a challenge. But, I now understand concepts that I previously only skimmed the surface of, like circular motion, Newton’s Laws, or the Impulse Momentum Theorem (force x time = mass x velocity). AP Physics is also, well, the first class I’ve ever gotten an A- in. I know, I know, that’s still good, but I guess that’s what I have to show for wrestling with it all semester. Science never ceases to keep me on my toes.

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I’ve saved history for last! Probably because it’s the most fabulous subject. History teachers are never boring, so the class is always super fun! I think what I’ve found most interesting, growing up learning history, is how there are so many things never mentioned in class or the textbooks earlier on. I wish I’d gotten to learn about women in history in more depth, or minority groups and their contributions in different countries. So, I really enjoyed learning about diverse cultures as they progressed throughout history last year in AP World. The class was... well, pretty hard. But I never came out of that class without having learned something new and thought provoking. I think it was a great introduction to higher level thinking, as it was my first AP class, too. I encourage anyone reading this to take the most advanced history classes offered at your school, because it’s always interesting and you wouldn’t be getting the full experience otherwise. I think my most favorite history class ever is my AP U.S. History class. Which, yes, I’m still taking currently. I’m always excited for the lectures, because my teacher makes them really interesting. Yes, even economics. We’re currently learning about the Great Depression, and as... well, depressing as it is, my teacher’s even managed to make it really engaging. History is always relevant in every aspect of our lives. In politics, in medicine, in why we act the way we do... I don’t think I’ll ever not find it interesting. And, I know, without a doubt, that history always has its eyes on us. Yes, that was a Hamilton reference.

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Thank you all for reading! I practically wrote an essay, so if you made it to the bottom know that I love you! And if you didn’t, I still love you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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