Watch Us Rise(28)

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sydjohnson commented: “I made me.” I am thinking about this statement. How do we make ourselves and stay true to who we want to be?

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jokelly commented: You two make me cry every time!





Come in, come in,” Ms. Johnson tells us. I am walking, reluctantly, into my STEAM lab, which is my least favorite class. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics—um, only one of the words in that sequence is interesting to me. I am an artist—that’s who I am, and that’s my role in the world. I am definitely not going to be an engineer or create a start-up tech firm and not because I’m a girl, but because I don’t like science, technology, engineering, or math. Period. Besides, in the next week, we have an open mic to plan for, and the big Halloween dance, which I cannot wait for. Also, our blog gets hundreds of visits every day. Ms. Lucas said it’s easily the most visited and commented on blog in Amsterdam Heights history, and she’s serious. She asked us to start thinking about a chapbook or zine component and said she’d help us raise some funding for it. My mind is on Write Like a Girl all the time, so I don’t have much energy for STEAM.

Ms. Johnson motions us to take a seat in the big circle of chairs set up around the room. This is not your average room design. I take a seat next to a couple of other juniors.

“Please take a seat anywhere in the circle. There will be one less chair than we have people. I will actually be playing our first game with you all, so just go ahead and sit, and I’ll be the first one in the circle.” Great, I think, a game. Ms. Johnson is forever trying to make her classes fun, which usually backfires big-time. We all take our seats—there are about twenty-five of us, all looking around the room wondering what’s next.

“First, let’s keep talking about why STEAM actually matters. I want you to continue to open your minds about this class. This is about dialogue, critical thinking, and using our information to take thoughtful and exciting risks in our work, to engage in experiential learning and begin to really collaborate and push each other to become twenty-first-century learners.”

“Boo,” Ramel calls out, laughing. Ramel is one of James’s best friends, so I feel like I’m at least one degree from James.

“Ha-ha,” Ms. Johnson says, giving Ramel a look. “All I ask is that you keep pushing yourselves in this class. Now, today we are going to break down misconceptions and stereotypes about the tech industry and really take a look at gender and race within these fields. We are gonna take it all apart and figure out how we can fight against these issues.”

Now this is interesting. I didn’t really think about any issues of gender or race in the tech industry, so I sit back and let Ms. Johnson explain the game—besides, I’m all about women getting more jobs and elevated roles—actually becoming CEOs and bosses. And since my semi-fight with Meg, I’ve been thinking more and more about what I could have said differently, how I could have changed her mind about stereotypes and where they come from, and who they benefit and who they hurt.

“So, this is how the game works. It’s called—Do You Love Your Neighbor.”

“Yes, but only if she’s hot,” Ramel calls out.

“Enough, Ramel. And also, that’s a sexist statement, so cut it.” She gives him a serious look this time.

“Ah, sorry about that,” he says, and sits up a little taller.

“Everyone will have a chance to stand in the middle of the circle, and once you’re there, you will share something that is true for you, and if that’s true for anyone else in the circle, then you will jump up and switch chairs. The person without a chair is the next one up. Make sense?” We all nod. “I’ll go first so you can see. And you start it like this. Get ready . . . ?I love all my neighbors who love science,” she says. About five kids actually admit to loving science. They stand awkwardly, and then when Ms. Johnson steps out of the circle and removes a chair, they realize it’s a game of death and start rushing to other chairs so they don’t have to stand alone in the middle. Alex Perkins, our resident science fanatic, ends up standing.

“What do I do now?” he asks, looking around.

“Think of something that is true for you, Alex, and something that’s related to STEAM—let’s keep thinking of bringing it back to that, yes?” Ms. Johnson says. “And I have an added challenge. This can’t be anything that people can see on the outside. It has to be something on the inside—something that we don’t know by looking at you. I want you all to use this game to reveal yourselves. That’s what this whole class is about. It’s finding out things we didn’t know existed, and unearthing things we didn’t know were there.” She smiles. It’s clear that this is the class of Ms. Johnson’s dreams, and the more she talks, the more excited I am about it.

“Okay, so, I love all my neighbors who like to play video games,” he says. All the boys get up to move, and a couple of the girls. I stay seated.

“Interesting. Keep an eye on who moves. Did you all notice that more boys than girls moved on that question? Let’s keep thinking about gender roles when we think of technology, and also how it starts,” she adds.