WA students have many responsibilities at our school. Whether it be maintaining a good GPA or being on a sports team, high school life is a lot of work. For seniors Jade Yang and Fred Yu, not only do they have the responsibility of being high school students, they also are the co-captains of both the math and science teams.

Yang joined the math team in her freshman year of high school and the science team in her sophomore year. She wanted to be the captain of both teams for a simple reason:

“The desire to make the teams more fun and more competitive in the state competitions they are involved in,” says Yang.

Yu joined each of teams because he too was adept in both subjects, math and science. And he wants to show to everybody that he can be a good leader and teach great things to people who have the same interests as him.

“Initially, I didn’t join Science Team because I heard that it was really freshman-unfriendly; sophomore year, I just did not participate, for whatever reason. Junior year, I finally decided to be smart, decided that science is awesome, and do Science Team. As for Math Team, I did it out of interest beginning my freshman year,” said Yu.

“Well, for one, I get to be challenged by some of the brightest students at WA. I get to see if I really understand something, like when I tried to teach complex numbers. I get to improve my teaching skills. And I really hope that I’ll inspire someone to love these subjects just as much as I do,” Yu says.

As captains of both the science and math teams both Yu and Yang have many responsibilities. Yang usually deals with the administrative parts of each team.

“For math team I have to make sure everyone gets practice packets, make copies of the qualifier, grade the qualifiers, send out reminders for due dates and events, and be at the meetings to help anybody with math problems,” Yang says.

For the science team Yang has many administrative responsibilities for multiple activities such as the Science Bowl Qualifiers and the Science Olympiad.

“For science team I organize what happens at every meeting. For Science Olympiad I have to choose who participates in which event and to make sure they are keeping up with their work. For Science Bowl I have to make sure everyone practices and keep track of what the team still needs to study. I’m responsible for most of the administrative stuff in general in science team. That involves collecting fees, organizing the [Holiday] bazaar, etc,” Yang said.

Though they are both captains of the team, Yang claims that that Yu doesn’t manage the team as much as she does.

“Fred isn’t much help because he claims he’s “bad at administrative tasks”. I usually have to remember everything for him,” says Yang.

Yu does admit to not being much of a help to the administrative part of the science and math, but makes up for it in his depth of knowledge.

“I know that I know my stuff, and I know that I can teach it effectively. I want to spread my passion to the school community, which is why I chose to take on these leadership positions,” said Yu

Even though Yang and Yu are both a part of each team and like both teams, they prefer one over the other. They also sometimes feel that one team is harder than the other to manage.

“I like science club better, since I like science as a subject more, and because science team has more free reign to do what it wants,” Yang said.

Yu shares the same opinion as his co-captain and feels that he likes science team is his favorite team but feels that since there are less people on math team it makes it easier to manage.

“Science Team is more in my element; however, I find that Math Team is just slightly more structured (less people equals less chaos) which I find much easier to deal with,” Yu commented.

But he also says that he likes the science team more than the math team, and that he has the same feelings when it comes to administrating the science team.

“[I like] Science Team, definitely. It’s so much bigger. Math Team, however, is an administrative headache,” Yu said.

Yang as well feels that the Math team is harder in administrative terms. This is mostly because it is not as well funded as the science team is.

“Math team is harder to manage because the club manager and advisers are very close sticklers to the rules. We have to adhere to strict deadlines. Plus, math team is always short on money for bus fees, and the school isn’t willing to fund us. Last year we managed by carpooling, but apparently carpooling is against the rules of the school,” Yang said.

For advice on being the captain on each team Yang says that a person must be good in both of the subjects [math and science].

“I would advise being very, very active in the club. It also helps to distinguish yourself in achievements regarding that club. For example, having the best scores in math meets helps. Placing high in Science Olympiad events also shows that you have the intelligence and achievements to lead the team,” Yang advises.

Yu’s advice for being captains of each the science and math team is that they should be hardworking and passionate.

“Be dedicated. Love what you’re doing. And make sure someone knows how to do paperwork if you don’t want to do it. Learn how to teach. Other than that, pretty much anything goes, I think,” Yu said.