First Semester Mu Alpha Theta

As a middle child I learned patience, kindness, independence, teamwork; determination and many more that have molded my personality and influenced the way I want to educate children. As a teaching assistant at a local day camp I united all those traits into my work. During the second week of camp, a new boy had started and was hesitant to get involved so I decided to be his buddy for the day. I showed him the routine, modeled activities, and was patient at times when he became frustrated. The bond that I had formed with the student in such a short time was remarkable. Whenever the student walked into the room he smiled when he found me, confided and needed comfort from me when he was sad, and charmed me when we were outside. At the end of his

I sat in calculus class waiting impatiently for the teacher to pass back my exam. I look at the grade and then instinctively look behind me. My best friend, Sam, looked rather pleased; she understood this math lesson, and her grade reflected it. ‘One down one to go,’ I thought as I looked to my back left. My other best friend, Lettie, looked confused. I asked her what she got and she said a grade that was lower than mine. I grabbed her paper in disbelief. I compared the grades, and my grade was in fact a point higher. Lettie tried to shrug it off. She said that she just didn’t get it, or that she didn’t care about this little exam, because there were far more important assignments in her life at the time. The excuses were always

The day I had been contemplating finally arrived. I was required to complete a placement test in order to determine what level I was on in the grounds of academics. This, as I had wished, is what led to me being accepted into an AP chemistry course. In less than a week of starting the chemistry course I was top of the class and in my natural character of helping others helped my classmates at any time that they asked for help or clarification on a certain topic. This attitude to help others in itself is what helped me forge friendships with not only the students but the teachers as well.

Our tutoring program is a big success as it pairs NHS members with students who are struggling in certain subject areas. As scholarship is another pillar of NHS, our members take their schoolwork very seriously and they are some of the brightest students in their classes. This tutoring program allows them to give back to our Holmdel High School community by imparting some of their knowledge to struggling students. Their service and time does not go unnoticed as they often have to give up their free time during study hall, lunch, or even after school. One of my fondest memories while being a tutor was when I had to help a younger student study for an Algebra test. I was a bit nervous before our session that I wouldn’t be able to help her understand the subject matter, but we went through her review packet question by question and to my relief I was able to explain the material to her with ease and give her advice on how to solve them, as well as testing tips and strategies that she could use. After our session was over I was glad I was able to help her, but really didn’t think anything of it. I had kind of forgot about our tutoring session when two weeks later, the girl I tutored came up to me with a huge smile on her face telling me she got a 100 on her test and told me she couldn’t have done it without

After all, math was one of my best subjects. I had never really had an experience where I just couldn't understand the concept of a math problem, of how it was solved and why. Our teachers has warned us back in elementary school, that one day we would hit an invisible wall and not ease through classes. That one day we would struggle with understanding a problem, a concept or even a subject. I had never believed them, thinking this would never happen to me, that I could somehow avoid this wall of confusion and just walk right through. But there I was, utterly confused and frustrated at a simple problem that everyone else could solve. Why was I not seeing it? Why couldn't I understand the solution? I asked myself. For the first time in my life I really struggled to get an A in a class. I had my sister tutor me almost every day, preparing for a quiz and then the next, and the next. I came in to my teacher for lunch and he helped me step by step. I studied for tests, and worked hard. And my work payed off. I got a high A in the course, and a lot of experience from it. It taught me how to work hard for something, to earn a good grade when you deserve it, and it gave me the skills I needed to get As in the high school classes I am taking this

My pre-calculus teacher walked from the front of the white classroom with a thick stack of papers and hands me an overturned test - normally a sign of bad results. The packet lands on my desk with a thud and as I flip it over, I’m devastated by what I see. On this single math exam, I receive the worst grade I’ve ever had in a class - a 56. My first thought was that everybody failed and that we’d have the opportunity to correct the test. But as my partner receives his assessment back, I quickly realize I’m wrong.

Currently I am the first person in my entire family to attend a 4-year university, and I have plans to go to grad school. I personally strive for excellence and take pride in everything that I do from my grades, to my community involvement, and my campus involvement just to name a few. I feel as if Alpha Phi Alpha also takes pride in all of those things as well. This being my second year here at the university I have gotten a chance to see close up a view of how the Kappa Alpha chapter actively engages with the campus and the community. While viewing the KA chapter I had also gotten a chance to see all of the other organizations and they did not quite seem to embody the values and traits that Alpha Phi Alpha upholds. My very first semester I had a chance to attend bible study here on campus, which was held and taught by two KA brothers and I was impressed with how knowledgeable and passionate they

Matthew Misiura is a math teacher at Susquehanna Community High School. Mr. Misiura explains that he always pushes for “content mastery” in his math classes. However, Mr. Misiura’s teachings are more than an average algebra and precalculus class. Mr. Misiura pushes for students to learn about the real world. He pushes for students to always work to their full potential. In a year in his classroom, I not only learned precalculus and trigonometry, but I learned how to view situations from a different perspective. Some students, when given back a test in which they failed, would cry, act childish, or simply complain. Mr. Misiura was able to reinforce the belief that the only way to learn is to make mistakes. He often stated that, if you already

Even though I studied harder than I ever had before, I still did not reach the grade I thought I deserved. He told me it was because the student who shared a desk with me earned a C and it was partially my fault. This lesson taught me that life is not just about reaching personal success but helping others reach theirs too. My schools CFX’s (Companion’s of Francis Xavier) were another way I have lived out service, spirit, and intellect. During summer vacations after my sophomore and junior year, I would spend hours in the sun hammering nails or digging the foundation where a new home would be built. At the end of every grueling day, we would discuss the reasons why this certain group of people were impoverished and the systematic ways that we could fix it. These trips helped me grow as a person and realize my place in today’s society. It also made me look at larger issues in our world such as homelessness and the border issues - I worked in solidarity building homes with people that were impacted by these matters. One of my greatest moments of service and spirit came on my senior year trip. It was Easter Mass and my group was in the

For the past nine years I have been involved in a program called Jamestown Community Center, an after school enrichment program serving kindergarten through eighth grade students. I started out as a student in the program and became a teacher assistant as a highschool student. What got me into becoming a teacher assistant was seeing other high school teacher assistants be able to be strict with us, but at the same time be our friends. I admired their maturity at such a young age, and noticed how Jamestown was very supportive with each of the teacher assistants. Last year, I was assigned to be the teacher assistant to a first grade class who had just gotten a new teacher. I advised her to give the kids tasks in order to get the students to get

Due to unforeseen circumstances, my teacher fell ill and was unable to return that school year. Because of the short notice, we did not have a teacher for month span and lost precious time to learn the material. Instead of waiting for a suitable substitute, I decided to learn the material independently and benefited greatly from this. When a suitable substitute came, we had to learn the material at even faster rate than before. Seeing the other students struggle with the intensity, I decided to help them and spend extra time explaining to them the lessons. Although they did not completely appreciate my help, I surely did help them. However, I found that through helping others I was truly helping myself. The help I gave them was another way to enhance my understanding of chemistry which led to a four on the AP exam

Learning multiplication is all repetition, something I had never learned the value in yet. By never studying my multiplication tables, I starved myself of acceleration in mathematics. I became severely far behind my peers in the understanding of the subject at hand and the coursework to follow. My discussion with 8-year-old Taylor would ensure that I knew just how essential math would be. Not only would tackling this problem help me excel in school and real life, it would have taught me the value of learning how to learn. Learning how to learn isn't necessarily comprehending the material, but the process in which one learns, ex. outlines, flashcards. Though now I am able to recognize how paramount learning these skills was to a child, my

Before the summer, we had been given the option to take a regular or advanced math class. The first day of school in this advanced math class, we had been given a pretest to assess our prior knowledge of material we should have learned the year before. Although we knew most of the material, I, as well as the other students who had been my class the year before, had been baffled by some of the things were were supposed to have been taught. Nearly all the knowledge we had was what we had learned through RenMath. My new teacher, exasperated, asked how on Earth we all made it into the advanced math class. One student, a friend of mine, pointed to me and said, “She taught us.” I’ll never forget how in that moment, I realized I had been a leader to my classmates, helping them to succeed and achieve more than they would have

During my second semester at Southwest Mississippi Community College, I had finally gotten comfortable at the school: I had made friends, and I was doing well in all of my classes. Well, all except for college algebra. I have never been good at algebra; this class was no exception. I tried my very best to understand the material, but my mind just could not comprehend much of the material that we covered in class. Because of my own inability to understand the material, I never finished any of my homework, and I did not do well on any of the tests that I had taken. I had later come to realize that my inability to understand the material was not the fault of anyone but myself.

Junior had a life changing talk with mr. P after he threw a book at him. Mr. P stated that he believed in Junior and that there were better things for him beyond the reservation. Mr. P’s desire for Junior to do better changed his life. I’ve had many teachers that have impacted my life, but the most impactful one would be Mr. Khan, my 9th grade Geometry teacher. Mr. Khan is one of the kindest and selfless people i’ve ever met. I don’t like math and i’m not that good at it, so to some it may be odd that a math teacher would be my favorite teacher, right? But to me, that’s what made him my favorite teacher because he satisfied all my needs and ridiculous questions. He worked with me to help me understand and I could tell that he really cared and wanted the best for me. I realized this about a month ago, when I saw him in the hall on my way to cheer practice. We greeted each other and then he asked,