Being a girl in STEM, I feel lucky having people who support and respect me. I have being doing math competitively for around 4 years now, and from these years, I have mat many amazing people. I also have a math team which consists of all girls, and we have been doing math competitions together ever since we were in fourth grade. This year, we all made AIME, we all got either honor or distinguished honor roll for AMC8, and gotten many awards together in local math competitions.
There are times when I feel accomplished, as I hear my name being called out for the awards, with a huge smile on my face.
Other times I remember sitting at the dinner table, crying, while my dad shouts multiplication problems. I remember holding back my tears as my parents compared me to others. I remember my head pounding from a high fever as work through an AOPS textbook.
Sometimes doing math gets difficult, sometimes I don't feel myself improving, and I wonder to myself, "do I really want to continue doing math? What if I just...stop?"
This is when I look back to see what I have done, all the struggles I have overcome, the accomplishments I have made, and the feeling of exhilaration when I realize I am getting better. I tell myself, "it's not worth giving up math, I spent way too much of my life grinding math problems that it will be a waste if I quit".
As of right now I can tell I am improving, and that I have a lot more to learn. For the future, I hope I can go to Math Prize for Girls next year, and someday to USAMO.
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