By Sarah Locke-Henderson
Contributing Writer
When the zero period bell rings, Ethan Lu shuffles into his Algebra 3-4 with Trigonometry class amidst the rest of his classmates.
For one period a day, Lu experiences life as a typical high school student. However, when class ends, his mother arrives at Mira Costa to shuttle him back to the Manhattan Beach Middle School, where he is currently in seventh grade.
At 11 years old, Ethan Lu has advanced past three levels of mathematics courses and skipped the third grade entirely. By the time he was in kindergarten at a small private school, Lu had already discovered his aptitude for math and was successfully learning fourth grade material. Despite his natural talent, Lu is humble about his inherent ability in the subject of mathematics.
“It’s not an amazing talent,” Lu said. “I just happen to learn math at a much more accelerated rate [than most students my age].”
After moving from China to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District public school system in first grade, Lu continued to work ahead in mathematics courses but was only allowed to work one year ahead of his grade level. It wasn’t until fifth grade at Meadows that he was permitted to squeeze three middle school level mathematics courses—Math 6, Pre-Algebra Course 2 and Algebra 1-2—into a single year of school.
“When I was a fifth grader, my teacher, Mr. Chao, and my mom encouraged me to take those advanced courses,” Lu said. “That’s why I’m so far ahead.”
Now in Algebra 3-4 with Trigonometry, a class typically dominated by sophomores, Lu’s major challenge has been bridging the age gap between himself and his peers. However, over the course of the semester, he has adapted to his unusual environment.
“My first day I was slightly intimidated,” Lu said. “But I have gotten used to [the enivronment], and so have my classmates.”
Lu’s Algebra 3-4 with Trigonometry teacher, Christine Baral, is particularly impressed with Ethan’s performance in the classroom. She commends his work ethic but also finds his interaction with his classmates endearing.
“He is able to grasp math concepts that are far beyond what most students his age are able to comprehend,” Baral said. “He enjoys participating in our class discussions and likes investigating the math topics on his own. It is touching to see the class adopt Ethan as a little brother.”
Lu’s dedication to the subject stems from a genuine interest in the learning process as a whole. He is fascinated by the rigorous structure of his Algebra 3-4 with Trigonometry class, but he also enjoys the flexibility of the problem sets he does in the classroom as well as problem sets he does for homework.
“I like math because of the diversity of problems you can do and the numerous ways you can solve them,” Lu said.
In addition to his interest in math, Lu’s favorite classes at MBMS include his life science class and the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) class, a new elective class that caters to students with an interest in engineering and technology.
“For his young age, Ethan is a very well adjusted kid,” MBMS STEM teacher James Locke said. “He interacts extremely well with his peers and absorbs information very quickly in the classroom.”
Outside of the classroom, Lu is a member of the middle school orchestra and plays the baritone. During his spare time, Lu also enjoys playing badminton at the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club.
As for his future at Mira Costa, Lu is uncertain about where he will continue his math education once he has completed the courses that the high school has to offer. Lu remains optimistic that he will find challenging math opportunities after he takes all of the math courses Costa has to offer.
“I will be taking Pre-calc next year, then AP Calculus and AP Statistics at Costa,” Lu said. “But after sophomore year is over I don’t really know what I will take. There is a possibility that I might enroll in some college math classes.”
Although his prodigious abilities would make a profession in the math and science field an obvious choice, Lu is also unsure of what his future and career may entail.
“I don’t have any clue what I want to do when I grow up,” Lu said. “I am open to many possibilities, and I am excited to see what the future will hold for me.”
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