Sports

For as long as I can remember, watching and playing sports has been an enjoyable and engaging experience for me. I played for a soccer team up until 7th grade and basketball until 8th grade. While I don’t play sports for any teams right now, I continue to enjoy basketball with my friends and family. Throughout my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend many football, basketball, and baseball games. My favorite teams are the Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox, as I’ve grown up watching them since I’ve lived in Massachusetts my entire life.

Community Service

Saint John's Summer Program

In the summer of 2023, I volunteered at my sending school’s (Saint John's High School) summer program. For the majority of my community service experience at the summer program, I was helping run an elementary day camp on Saint John’s campus. With over 90 elementary-aged children, it would be an understatement to say that a lot of adult help was needed to keep order. Nevertheless, the summer program was a great collection of programs in arts, academics, and athletics (including inflatable bouncy houses and obstacle courses). Volunteers, like myself, were responsible for coverage for all the activities, as well as assisting the teachers/coaches. Overall, this experience was enjoyable because as I worked with the young children, I got an opportunity to tap into my own inner child and be playful. Since they were incredibly energetic and loved to play, engaging in creative activities with them was a lot of fun, but at the same time, very exhausting.

STEM Week

Over the course of two Saturdays, we, the Mass Academy student body, had the opportunity to visit the Abby Kelley Charter Public School in Worcester to team young middle school students about STEM. With interactive and fun STEM lessons prepared for the students, I, along with some of my classmates got to deliver the STEM lessons to the students. With so many fun and interesting activities planned out for the kids, I got to facilitate meaningful learning with the students as they explored engaging topics in STEM. As this was another experience working with young children, I got another opportunity to learn patience, since middle school students are not always the easiest to manage and keep under control.

Math Team

From a young age, I have always been fond of math. I’ve always enjoyed tackling complex mathematical problems because they require computational thinking and open-ended problem-solving, which opens the door for me to express my creativity. The overall thrill of cracking a tough problem can be immensely satisfying. Also, the math team provides opportunities to participate in math competitions against other schools or teams, which can often be exhilarating. For me, healthy competition motivates me to improve my skills and strive for excellence. So far, I have participated in many math competitions including MAML, AMC12, Purple Comet, and WOCOMAL . My overall favorite parts of the math team are the interesting mathematical problems that go beyond what you might encounter in regular coursework as well as the regular practice sessions where members collaborate on solving problems, discuss strategies, and find solutions.