Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
I love math. One of my earliest memory is about me subtracting numbers. Math was interesting to me even as a kid. It all started when I was 8 years old. I must admit that I didn't fall in love with math immediately, instead, it was my yearning for praise for solving problems and the spotlight that drew me in. I would often ask my mother to make up some numbers so that I could add or subtract those numbers, and then I would shower in her and other family members' compliments.
As time passed I started to like doing math for its own sake. I gradually improved my math skills and came to a realization that math was the basis of every science. Of course, my knowledge of math was but a simple one. The moment I saw those numbers I multiplied or added them, but then any machine could do that. I may have been young, but I knew that I wanted to learn to how perform more than simple mathematic equations.
After searching for a while by myself I failed at finding a new opportunity to learn more. So I asked my parents for help. At first they cared little, but as I searched even more they understood my resolve to learn. When I was 13 my parents finally found a club that might've been what I was searching for. It was abacus. I've heard of abacus before but it was nothing more than basic common knowledge. As I researched what abacus was I found out that it was a little board with buttons to count numbers and do mathematic equations. It didn't impress me at first because I thought it was silly to count math on a board with buttons in this age of technology. Still, I decided to give it a try.
My first abacus lesson was a disaster. I couldn't even do simple math, it was like I was being taught an ancient language - this was a language I was determined to decipher. After a month at the club I could finally do simple math. I felt relieved but then a day after I had finished my first stage, I accidentally wandered into a room full of abacus experts. Mesmerized by the sound, the level of concentration, and the determination in their eyes I stood there frozen for a minute or two, the way their hands moved was just like an artist painting a beautiful scene. This sight fueled my passion even more, it was like oil to my flaming passion.
In 4 months I became one of those people I admired. Not the ones that are successful but the ones that were passionate about everything they did. At my graduation ceremony from the abacus institution my teacher told us: "Learning abacus won't make you a genius or a very smart, intelligent person. Instead it will make you a person who is ready to tackle on any problems at life, it will make you a person who has the patience to endure".
The addition of abacus was a great influence to my arsenal of knowledge. It has helped me so many times because I learned the perseverance that I had always needed to complete the jobs that I had started. Before abacus I was always lazy and never did the best I could. But with the patience gained from the abacus classes I am now a far superior student in all my classes than I used to be.
My future still remains as foggy as it has been before, clouded with misjudgment and uncertainty. Nevertheless I will walk forward and only forward to pursue my dreams and ambitions but now I have a light to guide me through or help me remember the virtue that I need to not fall down and falter. That light is the patience I learned from the abacus.
Still foggy
I love math. One of my earliest memory is about me subtracting numbers. Math was interesting to me even as a kid. It all started when I was 8 years old. I must admit that I didn't fall in love with math immediately, instead, it was my yearning for praise for solving problems and the spotlight that drew me in. I would often ask my mother to make up some numbers so that I could add or subtract those numbers, and then I would shower in her and other family members' compliments.
As time passed I started to like doing math for its own sake. I gradually improved my math skills and came to a realization that math was the basis of every science. Of course, my knowledge of math was but a simple one. The moment I saw those numbers I multiplied or added them, but then any machine could do that. I may have been young, but I knew that I wanted to learn to how perform more than simple mathematic equations.
After searching for a while by myself I failed at finding a new opportunity to learn more. So I asked my parents for help. At first they cared little, but as I searched even more they understood my resolve to learn. When I was 13 my parents finally found a club that might've been what I was searching for. It was abacus. I've heard of abacus before but it was nothing more than basic common knowledge. As I researched what abacus was I found out that it was a little board with buttons to count numbers and do mathematic equations. It didn't impress me at first because I thought it was silly to count math on a board with buttons in this age of technology. Still, I decided to give it a try.
My first abacus lesson was a disaster. I couldn't even do simple math, it was like I was being taught an ancient language - this was a language I was determined to decipher. After a month at the club I could finally do simple math. I felt relieved but then a day after I had finished my first stage, I accidentally wandered into a room full of abacus experts. Mesmerized by the sound, the level of concentration, and the determination in their eyes I stood there frozen for a minute or two, the way their hands moved was just like an artist painting a beautiful scene. This sight fueled my passion even more, it was like oil to my flaming passion.
In 4 months I became one of those people I admired. Not the ones that are successful but the ones that were passionate about everything they did. At my graduation ceremony from the abacus institution my teacher told us: "Learning abacus won't make you a genius or a very smart, intelligent person. Instead it will make you a person who is ready to tackle on any problems at life, it will make you a person who has the patience to endure".
The addition of abacus was a great influence to my arsenal of knowledge. It has helped me so many times because I learned the perseverance that I had always needed to complete the jobs that I had started. Before abacus I was always lazy and never did the best I could. But with the patience gained from the abacus classes I am now a far superior student in all my classes than I used to be.
My future still remains as foggy as it has been before, clouded with misjudgment and uncertainty. Nevertheless I will walk forward and only forward to pursue my dreams and ambitions but now I have a light to guide me through or help me remember the virtue that I need to not fall down and falter. That light is the patience I learned from the abacus.