An unexpected lesson by Sara

An unexpected lesson by Sara - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

There is something us students of New York dread once we get to high school. It is a class most of us will never use in our every day lives once we go off and find our careers. This class is something a lot of us don't pass, but could you blame us? It's trigonometry. It's not the most interesting class to begin with, and on top of it being dull, it's difficult. This, however, does not matter to your teachers. That realization hit me once I began the class my sophomore year.
I was never a good math student, I had a liking for biology and creative writing. Math was always my weakest subject, and once I got to trig, combined with a teacher about to retire and just about done with the subject too, the class was not a walk in the park. I only had one friend in it with me. We sat through and struggled with the teacher's halfhearted lessons and the group of distracting boys that would lead her off track for half the class so we'd fall behind. She moved through the lessons quickly and her explanations usually left us with more questions than answers. This, of course, was not her problem. We were the students that wanted to pass, so we were expected to do the extra work to get there. I was a sophomore in a junior class, so I had to work extra hard.
My wake up call came when I took the first test and I received a great big fifty-six. I wasn't confused as to why I got the grade because I was struggling on the test, knowing full well I didn't study or get the extra help. That's when I realized I needed to step up and do the things I needed to do to to get the good grades. So, I did. I began getting help after school, taking time out of track practice, to bump my grade up, and I studied at home and did my homework more thoroughly. My final grade for the class was an eighty-four. It wasn't the greatest, but it was better than a fifty-six. I used this mindset to bump my grades up in the chemistry class I was taking at the time, and to maintain and above ninety average in the AP Biology class I took my junior year. I shook myself out of the "I don't want to study, I'll just settle for what I get and let the teacher do the work," and picked myself up. This work ethic will be very valuable in college, where courses are even more challenging and the professors expect students to act like adults and take matters into their own hands. Although I did not enjoy that class, I'm really glad I went through it, because I came out with a very valuable lesson.