Overcoming Algebra by Marie

Overcoming Algebra by Marie - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

During my eighth grade year, there were about twenty one students in my Algebra class. Since Algebra one is a high school requirement for graduation, I was fortunate to take this course while I was in middle school. Being in this class allowed me to understand what my teacher, Ms. Padilla's expectations were. Within the first few weeks of school, she distributed a syllabus to all of her students to inform us about taking this course and the advantage that it provides us in middle school.
After a few months, I began to struggle with some of the curriculums that she was lecturing in class. Whenever I didn't understand a math problem that she was doing on the board, my eyes started to wonder. Since Ms. Padilla told my classmates and I the significance of earning high school credit, I knew that I needed to be more attentive and ask questions. From that point on, I asked
for assistance from Ms. Padilla or city year members when I was stuck on a difficult math problem. Getting the guidance that I needed from them made me acquire more knowledge about the lesson that she was teaching.
Towards the end of the year, I decided to go to Saturday School and attend tutoring in order to pass not only the class but the end of course exam. To prepare for the test, I went to Algebra Camp. In Algebra Camp, Ms. Padilla and other math whizzes reviewed every curriculum I needed to know so that I could act the Algebra test. Being in the Algebra Camp, I knew that the effort that I needed to put in, During my spare time in the weekends, I studied everything that was taught at the camp. By the time Monday hit, I was taking the end of course test. Three weeks later, I was walking in the hallways until I received amazing news from my teacher saying that I passed the EOC. While I jumped up and down with amazement, I was proud of my outstanding achievement. With this accomplishment, I learned that I have the ability to succeed at anything that I put my mind to.