Charles H. Bullock Elementary School in Montclair, NJ, offers after-school enrichment classes, or ASE classes, which cover a variety of topics for children to learn about; Dumpling Diplomacy had the chance to fill one of these classes. I, a sophomore at Montclair High School, was given the opportunity to volunteer at these classes every Monday through my membership in the high school’s Key Club.

Key Club is an international organization driving students to give back to their community, with the sole requirement for membership being to complete fifty hours of community service. Although there are a couple more rules beyond that, the club has led me to spend what felt like the majority of my time volunteering across different places in Montclair. I would accumulate some hours just by providing my time to soup kitchens or delivering food, services where I would see new faces every day I went. However, towards the second half of the year, I still hadn’t reached all of my inside hours—hours that you earn by volunteering at places Key Club provides—and decided to sign up to volunteer with the Dumpling Science ASE offered at my alma mater, CHB.

The program spanned a total of 10 weeks, with every class consisting of dumpling eating and making integrated into a fun science lesson. In all honesty, I was a little worried about the science aspect of the course, as I am definitely more qualified in cooking than I am in various physics or engineering topics. Nonetheless, I was assured when I signed up that the science would only be at an elementary level, giving me, a high schooler, some hope in my mediocre skills. As I stated previously, though, I felt completely prepared for the cooking. I cook a lot in my own time—sometimes just quick lunches in the morning, and other times intricate desserts and snacks for my brother and me.

I knew making dumplings would be less of a cooking test and more a test of my patience. Teaching the kids, ranging in ages 8-10, to intricately fold, press, and create dumplings was a process of trial and error; one that we were able to overcome! As the class progressed, the dumplings the kids made became more and more difficult to execute. Some of these styles of dumplings included a simple xiao long bao, a more complicated jiaozi, and the kids’ favorite, siu mai! Although the class itself didn’t touch much on the origins and names behind these different styles of dumplings, it did teach the kids the universal practice of working with very delicate dough wrappers and very sticky filling.

To my surprise, one of the kids’ absolute favorite parts was actually the sauce-making. Once the dumplings were done, I and some of the other volunteers would quickly cook them in a boiling pot near the teacher’s desk. Nancy would bring in her own sauces, ranging from your typical soy sauce to bright-red banana sauce. Each kid would get a couple of dumplings, ask for a couple of sauces, and get to work creating interesting flavor combos. Some—I’ll be honest—didn’t look or taste the best, but got bonus points for creativity. On the other hand, certain kids had their sauces down to a routine. They knew they didn’t like soy sauce but would rather have something sweet to balance the saltiness of the dumplings and would settle for hoisin. The kids would line up every class to get their hands on the delicious pork, chicken, and vegetable dumplings, eager to dig in. You could probably guess which was the kids’ least favorite… the chicken! Although they weren’t huge fans of the vegetable dumplings, many kids also weren’t big fans of the jerk chicken dumplings either; they were too spicy. Regardless of the dumpling’s fillings, almost every single dumpling was eaten by the end of the class (and as a volunteer, I cannot lie, I ate plenty myself!).

All the dumplings aside, I was thoroughly impressed by some of the kids’ knowledge in science. Some of our older kids, 5th graders, were pretty knowledgeable about Newton’s laws. It felt like every time a new topic was introduced, at least someone in the class would have the perfect explanation of what it was, almost like I was learning more than they were. Despite this, there were definitely times when the kids had trouble applying the actual science to the dumpling making; and that’s where I felt most useful as a volunteer. Watching the kids’ faces as they saw all the physics principles come to full fruition was one of the most fulfilling aspects of this job and served as a reminder of why I love to volunteer so much.