Equation For Success
November 21, 2017 Uncategorized 2 comments dmiller18
4 years ago I made a mistake that I will never be able to undo and will regret until I graduate, and maybe even for many years after. I had convinced myself and truly thought that school was not that important and that I would be cool if I just slacked off. Freshman year in math class I would do the bare minimum. I would do no work out of school because I hated homework and it would take me three tries to pass a test or quiz because of not doing the work. I started to try to catch up and get work done but, I let myself get so far behind that even when I did a ton of work out of school I ended up failing anyway. Failing that one semester has affected me since.
When the year started to come to an end it I realized I was so behind that I may not be able to finish the first semester and all year I struggled to make a connection with my teacher but as I know now that it is not a valid excuse and I should have faced my fears and dealt with it. I was able to use my study halls and catch up by finishing the first semester and get a few quizzes in before the final week. I got to watch all my friends who kept on pace get the week off and start summer early while I had to sit in a hot, stinky, and disgusting math room and finish out the long week out of many weeks I had already spent dreaded being there. Then on the last day, I realized I failed the second semester of algebra all because I was too scared to ask for help and because I had first thought that slacking and procrastinating would make it easier.
Now going into senior year I have really turned myself around. I stay after for math every day and have become pretty good at it! I get either b’s or a’s on all my quizzes now and I have just about changed myself in every class too. I am an A student now and I am now the top of my Lewiston classes and I am in NTHS and NHS and I am really proud of how hard I work and ho I have become a whole new person by not trying to impress people, by dropping bad friends, and just focusing on me and my work and learning that I truly am smart and have the potential I never thought I had. I enjoy going to school now and never want to miss a day and I love learning new things and even though people may make fun of me and call me some names sometimes it does not matter to me, all the matters is that I have become the person I never thought I could be and I am excited to see where my new personality, motivation, and love for education takes me!
Four years ago my immature freshman self-made mistakes that my matured senior self now realizes I will never be able to change. Thinking it was somehow “cool” not to do homework I procrastinated on dreaded math work. My senior year, my college applications and my scholarships could all be affected by this one stupid mistake that I could have easily avoided. By the end of my freshmen year, I learned that slacking would stress me out and make things worse in the long run; it took a while I would soon take responsibility for the mistakes I made.
I had convinced myself and truly thought at this point that school was not that important and that I would be cool if I just slacked off. As for the years following ninth grade, I always struggled with school and had always had a hard time, especially in math. I would not do work outside of school and it would take me three tries to pass a test or quiz. That year I had taken a vacation and missed much more days due to a family emergency. Things went even more downhill for me in math and I did not realize how time was disappearing right before my eyes. I was not prepared for the fate I had set up for myself.
When the year started to come to an end panic hit. I realized I was so behind that I may not be able to finish the first semester. I was able to use my study halls to catch up by finishing the first semester. All of a sudden, it was the last few weeks of school. I got to watch all my friends who kept on pace get the week off and start summer early while I had to sit in a hot, stinky, disgusting math room and finished out the long week. I felt pain and devastation on the last day when I realized I failed the second semester of algebra all because I was “too cool” to do the math work and I could not take what I had done back. I had first thought that slacking and procrastinating would make it easier but now all I felt was regret. I realized failing meant I would be behind everyone for the rest of high school. I see now I should have faced my fears and dealt with the work.
Now going into senior year I have really succeeded and surpassed my own expectations. I stay after for math every day and have become pretty good at it! I get either A’s or B’s on all my quizzes now and I have just about changed my work ethics in every other class, too. I am an A student now and I am the top of my Lewiston classes; I am in NTHS and NHS. I am really proud of how hard I work and how I have become a whole new person by not trying to impress people; by dropping bad friends; and by focusing on me, my work, and my future. I’ve learned that I truly am smart and have potential I never thought I had. I enjoy going to school and never want to miss a day and I love learning new things. Even though people may make fun of me and call me some names sometimes it does not matter to me; all that matters is that I have become the person I never thought I could be. I’m excited to see where my new personality, motivation, and love for education takes me!
(P.s., I still hate math!)
Photo credit: jimmiehomeschoolmom via Foter.com / CC BY
2 Comments
I can agree with this 100%. Freshman year was a little tipsy for me as well. I was never on my A game and I would slack off quite a bit. I had my ways to get through and push to get all my homework in at the end of the year, but I am curious how did you end up managing your time for your classes? I am glad that you noticed that it was the wrong path to go down and you corrected it sooner than later. You deserve the awards you have gotten and many are proud of you. Keep up the hard work Deja, it will take you places!
I admire how you opened up about what you consider to be you’re biggest regret. The way you are so open and straight forward really builds the post and complements it very well. In addition, it is very down to earth and very relatable. Barely any freshman is a motivatied and persistent learner. The ending is my favorite part, because it elaborates that though it’s your biggest regret, you’ve changed and included the many accomplishmets you have achieved.