Where’s the worst place you could eat lunch? A chemistry lab. Yet that’s what I did: every day of my freshman year (until we went virtual), I sat with Ms. L, my lunchtime companion and the teacher who’d saved me from the indignity of solitary lunch in a high school cafeteria. By chance, Ms. L would also be my chemistry teacher the following year. But this isn’t going to be about my budding love for chemistry, or even science — it’s about when I decided to be a teacher.
I grew up with the same circle of friends, expecting I’d attend the majority African-American high school at the heart of the LGBT community in urban Atlanta. But unexpectedly moving for the first time in my life, I was still in shock on the first day of freshman year in a huge, largely homogeneous school in affluent Bethesda. Faced with three thousand strangers, all I could do was shrink into Ms. L’s room… and then the pandemic hit. Already feeling like a fish out of water, I could only see the foreheads of other students and hear their disembodied voices on Zoom: what an awful way to make friends. Friendships, as introverts know well, are made through months of awkward proximity before coalescing. But one of those Zoom classes was Honors Chemistry, some of which I’d unwittingly absorbed the previous year during lunch when students came to see Ms. L for help. Another advantage: I’d also bonded (terrible college essay pun 1) with Ms. L over manga, Sunday comics, and digital art, which she incorporated into her lessons.
Soon, I was helping other students, and they asked me to join a chemistry group chat. Although I was still faceless, I found I was in my element (terrible college essay pun 2) because I could explain concepts and solve problems like Ms. L had. It wasn’t long before I was holding impromptu study sessions: I once drew Lewis structures past midnight as we prepared for a test. As high schoolers can attest, shared trauma is the best foundation for friendship. I became friends with people in the group chat and, having developed chemistry (terrible college essay pun 3), we started hanging out in backyards and local parks (pandemic…). Over a year, I realized, I’d not only made friends in a most unlikely way but also enjoyed teaching them. For the first time, I started thinking this could be my future.
Science isn’t my career path, so when I tell people the most influential class I’ve taken was chemistry, they’re taken aback. Really? The humanities girl thought that chemistry was fun? But during the strangest year of my life, I’d found something I had both a knack and passion for. Still, though, I wanted to go beyond casual tutorials and homework help. I did learn to explain chemistry with fun illustrations and humorous problems, but I thought I could do more. So, I found a job as an assistant reading and math teacher at a tutoring center where I had opportunities to teach one-on-one and in small groups. Turns out, in-person teaching was even better! Finally, I could really connect with students in creative and interactive ways. I didn’t fully grasp how magical it was to see someone’s face light up in understanding until I saw it myself.
My parents are teachers, and my brother graduated last year and aspires to teach. But I wasn’t thinking of following until I realized my capabilities, not just in the chemistry lab but teaching and connecting with people. Now, I have a 4-year plan: face forward, try new things, and learn. My 10-year plan is to study English and Education, win a Fulbright, and earn a graduate degree to teach high school or college English. But right now, on my first day on campus I plan to have lunch with friends, preferably not in a combustible laboratory.