Mr. Tim by Imri

Mr. Tim by Imri - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

As a child growing up I was surrounded by white. I went to a white school, lived in a white neighborhood, and had mostly white friends. There was never a problem with me being black until the fifth grade. The teacher was showing a slide show of people in the class. When my picture came up some of the more popular kids in class pretended to throw up and made comments about my skin. From then on I tried extra hard to be someone I was not. To somehow try to make people forget that I was black by being a cool kid. This became my main priority. I ended up changing the way that I talked, did my hair, and even dressed. All of this just for the approval of others.
In middle school I was still trying to be someone that I was not. My seventh grade year I had a hard time adjusting to all of the homework and tests that seemed to be never ending. I was and still am a very smart girl but when pleasing others is a priority school fell on the back burner. All of my teachers knew that I was struggling in class however they would just halfheartedly encourage me to do better. After giving empty promises to start turning in work and studying for tests I was free to go on about my business. However, one teacher in particular did not let me slide that easy.
Mr. Tim was my Algebra 1 teacher in the 7th grade. My algebra teacher was a very short and outgoing Vietnamese man who never took “I can’t” for an answer. Out of all of my teachers he was my favorite because he was passionate about teaching and he really wanted his students to understand the material. Mr. Tim had a special way of making everyone feel smart when the equations finally clicked. When Mr. Tim noticed my grades slipping he called me in for a meeting after school. As usual I gave empty promises to step up my game and crack down on my studies. A few weeks passed and I thought that I was off the hook. It was a regular day and my mom was dropping me off at school like normal. However, this time she parked and got out the car saying that Mr. Tim had called her for a meeting. I was furious. By the end of that awful meeting I had tutoring sessions set up every morning before school until my grades came up.
At first I was mad that I had to wake up early to come get math tutoring but eventually I got used to it. During one of my tutoring sessions Mr. Tim told me not to care about what other people think. He told me that in the world I would come across people who would think they were better than me just because of my skin color and the best thing I could do to show them up was simply do my best and succeed. Although this little piece of advice may seem trivial to most it has stuck with me until this day. The fact that a teacher actually took time to impart these encouraging words into me at a semi young age has helped me in my journey through school and even the little bit of life that I have experienced. I know that it will help me in years to come as well.