Freshman Student Advances In Arithmetic

Connor Strange

Co-Editor-In-Chief

Advanced placement isn’t something too outlandish in Waverly. There are students studying with older peers across all grades due to high scores on placement tests or outlandishly good performance in class.

However, very few (if any) Vikings have ever voyaged as far into the unknown as freshman Chaz Maschman.

He takes Pre-Calculus classes in his first year of high school, putting him two years ahead of his peers.

“I originally got involved with grades ahead because, when I was in first grade, my parents bought me a second grade math book,” Maschman said. “Basically, it taught long addition and subtraction which was like witchcraft.”

The early start brought Chaz into higher-difficulty curriculum quickly, and he continued to advance at a dizzying rate throughout elementary and middle school.

“At first, all I did was math by myself in the elementary school with just one teacher - it changed often. [One teacher] would teach me by myself, but when I got in sixth grade it was pretty clear it wasn’t going to work. So they sent me in with the eighth graders, and in seventh grade they sent me to the high school,” Maschman said.

With such a distant advancement, trekking the sloped hill between the middle and high schools became a routine part of his day, and quite an inconvenience.

“I got a late lunch,” Maschman said. “When I got back, everyone was eating. I ate very fast, but one thing I would do if I was in a bad mood was take ten minutes to eat a sandwich and show up late.”

Even with the displeasurable task of walking betwixt schools in the summer heats and winter chills, he still managed to maintain his wonder for arithmetic.

“In eighth grade, I definitely liked how they offered you something that requires an open-ended approach, or something that they don’t expect you to get,” Maschman said. “Because if you get it, it feels like an accomplishment.”

These problems are the kind of math that Chaz thrives on, and that really give him room to think. However, that room may have been even further expanded, had the math placement test been used for him.

“I’ve gotten a little annoyed by the program for one thing. They didn’t do the test on me, they just said that I’d get pre-algebra. Viewing the test after I finished, I really did have [the opportunity for] a test,” Maschman said. “I think I could’ve gone up an extra year if that would’ve happened.”

Although he may have been a bit shortchanged on his opportunities (relatively), he doesn’t mind the luxury of no transit between schools that came with freshman year.

“Now I’m here. I just go to classes, it’s a lot easier than walking,” Maschman said. “I have no excuse for being late anymore, which kinda sucks.”

The juniors and seniors he shares math classes with don’t come off as intimidating upperclassmen to him; they’re just more students to work with.

“It’s not really overly awkward, I just talk to them and they talk to me. Mostly math-related things. It’s not like they’re pinning me against the wall or anything,” Maschman said.

Chaz theorizes that older students are a bit less impressionable and a lot more forgiving than his own peers.

“It’s pretty hard to make a permanently bad impression on people older than you,” Maschman said. “I don’t think I’ve ever offended anyone to the point of absolutely hating me that’s two years older than me, but for people my age it’s fair game.”

As well as the friendlier peers, Maschman also enjoys the lighter workload of high school classes.

“What I do like about the high school is that homework is semi-optional. It was cool because the teacher didn’t really care as long as I was doing well on tests,” Maschman said.

And it seems that he is indeed doing well on tests.

“I’d like it if they did something more challenging,” Maschman said.

If a two-year advancement isn’t hard enough, it’s a mystery as to what is. However, Maschman’s intelligence is just as much of an enigma to him as to everyone else.

“It could’ve been the way I was raised, because [my brother] is also relatively smart,” Maschman said, jokingly. “Or it could’ve been genetics. I was either born wanting to learn things or my parents taught me a lot. I don’t really know.”

Whatever the source of his great math aptitude, Chaz believes that any challenge is possible with the right knowledge.