Personal Statement - Aiden L.

Aiden

5/16/20

My Math Journey

I used to really suck at math but didn’t know it. Every day at school, when the teacher explained a concept, I thought I was grasping it fully. As far as I was concerned, my grades were just fine and I didn’t need to improve. But as we progressed to more complex topics, I could not fully comprehend what the teacher was explaining. That’s when I started feeling lost in class. It was a very disconcerting feeling and I wanted to be free of it.

The first step of change is mentally convincing yourself that you are fine, but could use some improvement. Unfortunately, this was the most difficult part for me. I seemed to think I was great at math and could even help others with their math. On the other hand, I could clearly see that I was struggling in class and could instead use some help. Luckily, I realized that my sense of security in class was delusional, and that won over my surplus of self-esteem. Now I had accepted that I needed to improve. I made a plan for myself and got right to it.

My plan was to allot 1 hour each day to sharpen my math skills. Sometimes I thought that the one hour was never going to end, and sometimes I just didn’t want to do it. I managed to push through every day, by telling myself: Each day is a steppingstone for your journey across the Math River. Without a stone for every step of the way, the path will be unstable.

Through this experience I have learned how much determination and drive is inside me. Now that I have uncovered these hidden qualities, I can apply them to other things to improve the same way I did with math.

It just takes a little push.