I take education very seriously, so I have always strived to do my best in every class I have taken. As a result, I have a 4.0 GPA. When family or classmates heard about my stellar grades, some of them would congratulate me and call me a genius; However, I am NOT a genius. My perfect GPA is not the result of having the perfect mind. If I had the brain of a genius, I would not have nearly lost my 4.0 due to my dual enrollment Trig class last year.
When I entered high school freshman year, it was not a huge adjustment for me. In fact, I thought high school work was rather easy. I breezed through my classes, only studying if necessary. I was not remotely challenged until my junior year of high school when I began to take AP and dual enrollment classes. It was during the second semester of my Precalculus class, Trig, that I discovered that I could not rely on natural ability alone.
During the first week after Christmas break, I was frustrated with how I was not able to make any sense of the information my teacher was giving us. I attempted going to my teacher for extra help. At the end of the session with her, I felt like I had just sat through another baffling hour of class. Her teaching style for trig just did not click with me. When my mother saw me crying about trig, she offered to arrange a private tutor to help me, and I was offended initially. After all, I believed that seeking tutoring was only for kids that were failing their courses- I had a B. My mom refused to see me panic so much over a class, so she brought me to a trial session at a coffee shop with Ms. Patin, the woman who offered to tutor me. As soon as I started with her, as reluctant as I was, I felt like I was finally understanding the material. I immediately begged my mom to pay for more sessions with her, and my 81 B turned into a 94 A by the end of the semester! After this, I signed up for tutoring for the ACT and the SAT because I finally knew that the secret to achieving your academic goals is to not be afraid to reach out for help!
