Memories From Algebra

I want to record a few memories of my previous semester before the new semester takes over and I forget them all.

Over the last semester, Algebra was my favorite class. I saw my classmates in that class nearly every weekday for sixteen weeks, and I became rather fond of them—some more than others.

On the first day of class, as people trickled in one by one, most of the girls sat on the left side of the room and most of the guys sat on the right side of the room; therefore, girls surrounded me except for the TA that sat to my immediate left. It didn’t take long for some of the girls to catch on that I was capable of comprehending the concepts that Mrs. P put forth. One girl in particular was Elizabeth.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth sat in the row to my right and one seat up. By several weeks into the semester, I often would arrive in class to find Elizabeth there to greet me with a “Good Morning, Sharon!” “Good Morning, Elizabeth,” I’d say. “Sharon, I need some help!” she’d say and pull her notebook out. I would settle into my seat and she would begin to ask questions. Much to my amusement, small “ask Sharon”s would be scrawled throughout the previous night’s homework. I would explain stuff to her, and she would see the error of her ways and correct them. “Sharon,” she’d say, “You are a genius!” “Well, thanks,” I’d say. How can you not like someone that thinks you’re a genius?

Some mornings, Elizabeth would greet me with a “Sharon—I don’t have any questions this morning because I am a genius.” “Well good for you!” I’d say. Other mornings when Elizabeth would greet me with a question, I’d have to say something like, “I really wish I could help you but that one flew straight over my head, too.” So then we would write our questions up on the board for Mrs. P to deal with when she got to class.

When it came time to get test scores back, I was intending to keep my score to myself but not with these girls! Scores in this class were not a private matter. Shortly after the first test, the girls began talking about having a study session before the final and, according to them, I was going to be the leader—no ifs, ands, or buts about it. After each test, they would again reiterate what my role would be before the final. I had my doubts that such a session would take place, so I just played along with them.

Yes, I Can Read

Mrs. P had to go to the state capital one day to deal with high school related testing. She told us that the TA would be in charge that morning and we should, as usual, put our questions on the board so he could answer them before we took a quiz.

We were dealing with solving systems of equations that day and several questions were put on the board for the TA to demonstrate. He dealt with the first few questions okay, but came to one that left him with an answer of 0 = 0. Now this answer was a completely unacceptable solution for this particular problem, so he tried to solve it another way.

I was feeling sorry for him by then. I had faltered on this particular problem myself the previous evening and had to find an example in the book that explained how to come up with the correct solution. After his second attempt came up with 0 = 0 again, I helpfully told him that on page 343 was an explanation on how to solve it.

A black girl that sat at the front of the room in the row to the left of mine twisted around in her seat and just looked at me wryly for a second or two. “Man! She know how to read the book too,” she said, in a delightfully black southern accent. I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess if some people haven’t been told in class how to exactly perform a certain problem, it never occurs to them to look for something similar in the book. It was definitely a ticklish moment for me.

Studying for the Final

On our last day of regular class before the final, I was packing up my books to head to my computer class to take the final in that class when Elizabeth came rushing up to me. “Sharon, will you come study with us for the final?” she asked. After inquiring about the time and location, I told her that as long as I didn’t have anything else come up for that evening, I would try to be there.

The study day arrived and I drove the 30-minute trek to campus, hoping that I could find Elizabeth’s dorm. I’m not familiar with the dorms since I’ve never had an occasion to visit the dorms. Elizabeth told me that the girls would be meeting in the lobby to study in the “Bubble”, and she would arrive 30 minutes early so she would be sure to be there when I arrived.

I arrived to find that indeed we were meeting in a “Bubble.” We were next to the lobby in an entirely glass room with the main door on the other side of the glass from me. I’ll just say that I got my share of looks that night.

I studied with Elizabeth and Monique for nearly five and a half hours that night. Somehow, none of the other girls made it. But studying wasn’t all we did. In the midst of it, someone that Elizabeth was doing a project for called her to give her a hard time about it. She disappeared for a bit and when she came back, we talked about it for a while. As we hit the books again, she thanked me for listening to her problems. I really enjoyed my interaction with Elizabeth.

I think I’ll miss that class at least a teeny little bit.