An Unforeseen Effect by Mikayla

An Unforeseen Effect by Mikayla - May 2021 Scholarship Essay

Elementary school is about fundamentals. The basics of reading. The principles of math. The essentials of how to learn and work in a group setting. Elementary school is where children learn skills that they will use for the rest of their life. Around the age of nine, I was diagnosed with clinical anxiety. I had always been somewhat of an anxious child, but at the age of nine it started to take over me. I would find myself, each and every school day, walking down to the nurse. Whether my anxiety had given me a headache, stomach ache, or caused me to throw up, you could always find me laying on a cot in the nurses office. This pattern of going to the nurse multiple times a day and most often going home, caused me to miss out. I missed out on the fundamental lessons you learn in elementary school.

It sounds strange to me now, as I am a year ahead in math, but all of the missed school due to my anxiety led me to be illiterate in math class. I could not do long division or add up numbers greater than two digits until sixth grade. I was placed in the lowest math classes, despite me being a smart student who was ahead in all her other classes. This was a challenge. Not only was it a challenge, but also a struggle. I cried over math homework, wondering why it didn’t come as easy to me as it did for others. I struggled to answer basic questions the teacher would ask while my classmates had the answer right away. All of these problems had developed as an unforeseen result from my anxiety. Having anxiety did not cause me to be bad at math, but it led to my constant absence in math class.

Middle school is when your grades begin to matter. Middle school is when I realized even more how behind I was in math. I would still probably be behind in math today, if it wasn’t for Mrs. Merry. She was my sixth grade math teacher, and cared more about my understanding of the subject than any of my elementary school teachers had. Mrs. Merry saw me struggling, and immediately started to help. She would check in with me after class, and go over anything I had a misunderstanding on. Seeing that she wanted me to succeed made me want to succeed as well. I thoroughly applied myself, and worked on every homework assignment until I understood the topic through and through. After two months, I realized I was excelling in math. Mrs. Merry started to give me more advanced assignments than the rest of my class, and pretty soon I was doing seventh grade math as a sixth grader. My math problems had disappeared, and I was extremely grateful. To this day, this was my biggest academic challenge. It taught me about the importance of perseverance, and really showed me that hard work pays off. As a result, this hardship has helped me to become a better student, and although it might sound cliché, that I can do anything I set my mind towards.