Math Club named “Vertex Venture” was an initiative taken by some of the Math enthusiasts in our school, which I participated in. This club included doing Math through exciting quizzes, games and worksheets which not only boosted my confidence and critical thinking, but also helped me enhance my creativity. Creativity, often neglected in the context of Math, is an essential skill which involves finding the solution of a problem in various ways, and sometimes a unique way of solving can be found. I feel that this club was a significant step in overcoming my Math anxiety, and it helped me in multiple ways.

Learning Outcome 1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

In the club, I realized that recognizing the method that will be applicable in solving a complex Math problem was one of my weaknesses, and the areas in which I had to grow. This made me realize my problem-solving skills needed improvement and that was a challenge for me. While solving sums under a time limit given, I recognized that I got stressed under pressure, and that handling pressure was also one of the skills that I had to develop. Moreover,  I also found that persevering in the face of a difficulty, in this case, my Math anxiety, was one of my strengths, as I found that even though I was unable to solve a problem, I was confident that I could improve in the near future.

Learning Outcome 2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

As someone suffering with Math anxiety, and as someone who is always conscious when speaking in front of many students, I was always anxious when we played a team Math game which required quick problem solving. This was a challenge for me, because I was afraid that my team would lose because I couldn’t answer a question quickly. I had to overcome this in order to do my best in the game, and yet, I can say that I still haven’t completely overcome it. Furthermore, confidently giving an answer to a question, and even being confident while solving the question when surrounded by many Math enthusiasts and people who have excellent problem-solving skills was a challenge for me, but while adapting to that, I developed my perseverance skills, and even learned how to motivate myself in the face of such difficulties.

In essence, this club truly was an extraordinary and important experience for me, because not only did it help me improve and hone my perseverance, it also made me appreciate Math to some extent. This has made me overcome my fear of Math to a certain extent, and has motivated me to put consistent effort in improving my Math. Apart from this, I also developed the Learner Profile attribute “Thinkers”, when I tried to use my critical thinking and creativity in order to solve complex Math problems. Hence, I can say with confidence that Math Club was an enlightening experience for me.