"Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted."
I can picture myself four years from now with a Bachelor's in History. Though I knew my future major in freshman year, math class has been that temptress since I was twelve. In the seventh grade my teacher outlined what math classes I could take in high school; the class that caught my eye was AP Calculus B/C. As a twelve-year-old I could wrap my head around algebra, geometry, and even trigonometry, but calculus seemed so immensely complicated and even exotic. I was drawn to this class like a moth to a lamp. I did not expect calculus to come easily to me, I knew that it would be difficult, but I decided not to admit defeat just yet.
My calculus teacher jumped into teaching limits of functions the first day of school. As I furiously copied down the amalgamation of letters and numbers on the board, I thought about how easy it would be just to drop this class and focus on AP US History. However, at the end of the ninety minutes, I did not pick up the drop form. Instead I asked my teacher to explain the concept once more. After that day, math class was never easy, but it was never boring. When difficult concepts came up, I never resorted to neglect or self-pity; I aspired to achieve something that I had dreamed of since the seventh grade.
Neither the score on my AP exam nor the grade in that class can truly depict what I achieved that year. I rose to the challenge and each little concept I learned that year felt like a huge mountain that I was proud to have climbed to the top of.
I can picture myself four years from now with a Bachelor's in History. Though I knew my future major in freshman year, math class has been that temptress since I was twelve. In the seventh grade my teacher outlined what math classes I could take in high school; the class that caught my eye was AP Calculus B/C. As a twelve-year-old I could wrap my head around algebra, geometry, and even trigonometry, but calculus seemed so immensely complicated and even exotic. I was drawn to this class like a moth to a lamp. I did not expect calculus to come easily to me, I knew that it would be difficult, but I decided not to admit defeat just yet.
My calculus teacher jumped into teaching limits of functions the first day of school. As I furiously copied down the amalgamation of letters and numbers on the board, I thought about how easy it would be just to drop this class and focus on AP US History. However, at the end of the ninety minutes, I did not pick up the drop form. Instead I asked my teacher to explain the concept once more. After that day, math class was never easy, but it was never boring. When difficult concepts came up, I never resorted to neglect or self-pity; I aspired to achieve something that I had dreamed of since the seventh grade.
Neither the score on my AP exam nor the grade in that class can truly depict what I achieved that year. I rose to the challenge and each little concept I learned that year felt like a huge mountain that I was proud to have climbed to the top of.
