Anna Kirsh picks up her calculator

Kirsh’s journey in high school math consisted of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 classes, and she later continued her education in math at UC Santa Cruz, where she took a few college-level math classes required for her sociology major. 

“I never particularly enjoyed math because it didn’t come naturally to me, but of all the math classes I took, Algebra was by far my favorite,” Kirsh said.

Although Kirsh didn’t enjoy math as a high school student and didn’t understand why it was required for her as she wasn’t going into STEM, she soon discovered how applicable math could be after taking a “Statistics in Society” class in college.

Taking an Algebra 2 review test given by Slaughter, Kirsh feels a deeper connection toward mathematics, especially Algebra. 

“I would rate my experience taking this test a 7/10 because I enjoyed the challenge and was proud of myself for remembering math concepts years after taking an Algebra class,” Kirsh said. “Students who have Ms. Slaughter are lucky that she scaffolds the questions to help students feel prepared and build on their knowledge as the test progresses.”