“For as long as I could remember growing up my biggest enemy was math. I was always a stellar student, with rave reviews from my teachers but I always struggled with math. I was able to slip on through most of my public school career without detection until my sophomore year of high school. I had just started Algebra 2 and my teacher asked to see me after class. She had discovered my secret, I didn't know any Algebra.

To catch me up to the rest of the class (and to help recover some credits), my teacher assigned me some self-paced algebra workbooks. Over the winter break, I remember slowly but surely making my way through those books, and for the first time in a long time, I knew what I was doing. I couldn't believe it, I could do all the problems in the books and I even liked it!

I finished out the class with a solid B and was finally feeling that maybe Math was no longer my enemy.. but perhaps my frenemy. Algebra 2 wouldn't be the end of my math woes, but having a teacher who finally took the time to sit me down and make me address my gaps and knowledge has set me up for life. I am so lucky to have had someone who cared enough to intervene instead of letting me slowly drown and fall behind.”