Personal Reflection

For the past three years of my high school career, and now my fourth, I have made it an obligation to continually expand my horizons in regards to math; when I cannot fully grasp an idea or concept, rather than giving up, I relentlessly pursue the idea until it is understood. During freshman year, math did not come easily to me. I was forced to go in early some days because, simply, I did not comprehend the concepts. However, taking initiative with my school work, and constantly working through problems that were difficult can be deemed one of the best decisions I have made. Although my final grade may not have been an

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed math classes. Although some problems are challenging, math has never been a difficult

On 08/20/2017 at 1002 hours FTO Wheeler #4361 and I responded to St. Luke’s Hospital emergency room entrance, on 3555 Cesar Chavez St., regarding a women in a hospital gown trying to break the caller’s vehicle window with a brick. Officer Wheeler and I were in full police uniform driving a marked patrol unit when we responded.

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

I planned on continuing to do math at a grade level higher and easily breeze through my academics with little to no effort for the rest of my schooling. However, life had a different course for me. Then, my perfect plan for life was not just shattered, it exploded in a brilliant display like a car in a cheesy action movie. All thanks to a part-time school called Treasure Valley Math and Science Center.

As those who love physics or chemistry, or biology, are most likely to understand difficult and complex concepts and be successful in their respective subjects, I became more successful at understanding mathematical concepts as my junior year progressed and as my senior year began. Calculus became an infinitely easier subject and one that I could comprehend with relative ease, even easier than traditionally “easy” subjects for me such as history or language arts. I learned that I could fly through problem sets and enjoy it, and for the first time in my school life, I was the one answering my peers’ questions instead of being the designated clueless classmate. Learning to love something that is so essential to life made me enjoy myself and my life more than I had previously, and I no longer felt the self-doubt of not being “gifted” in mathematics in a group of mathematically “gifted” students. I feel markedly more confident in my mathematical abilities, both presently and in the future as a student majoring in

Tynan statement, “…you’ll have to push yourself hard to work even when you don’t like it” resonates with me. I have always been a fairly decent student, tried my hardest in all my classes, but for some reason without fail Algebra and I have never connected. For as long as I can remember I have struggled with math, it’s always been my weak link in school. I know may people enjoy math, but to me it’s a lot of work. Now I am having to relearn Algebra and I don’t like it, but in order to achieve my goal of becoming a physician assistant this is the course I must stay. Maybe Tynan is right and by the end of this I will have learned to love math.

Furthermore, I realized that this semester was going to be particularly challenging because of the Pre-calculus and Calculus hybrid course I had enrolled in; math has not always been my best subject and taking a fast-tracked math course was sure to be disastrous. Nevertheless, I was determined to make A’s in all my classes. After the first week of classes, I could already feel myself becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to do in such a short amount of time. Not to mention, how disappointed I felt in myself when I received my first quiz grade for my pre-calculus class, I had bombed the quiz terribly by making a 65.

Remember going into second grade and fearing those one minute division tests? I remember very clearly how afraid and intimidated I was. I panicked because I was scared that I was not going to get a good grade on it. To my surprise, I did not get a high score on it compared to my classmates. I was devastated because I had tried really hard on it. After that, I hated math until seventh grade. Math was my worst subject, and I acknowledge I was terrible at it. I hated it so much that after years of hating it, I developed a passion for math. After some years of practicing math, I fell in love with it. Entering middle school, Algebra was introduced. I loved Algebra because I was not only adding numbers, I was solving for certain variables at the

So freshman algebra rolled around and I loved it. After two weeks in the class I was three and one half chapters ahead of the teacher. He would only assign the odd problems for homework, but I’d do them all. Geometry was even cooler. But thinking back, not one of the teachers even commended me for doing so well. My father noticed I was good at it, but I thought he had to tell me I was good; he was my father.

From the very beginning of my academic career, I have always relied on math classes as a support system for understanding anything around me, but it was not until I went high school that I realized how much I love math and it's never changing principles. During freshman year, I took Honors Algebra 1, which was considered the standard class for 9th grade honors students entering my high school, yet when I sat down in the classroom, I felt like I didn't belong there. Even though my class was accelerated compared to the regular algebra classes, my desire to go ahead of my classmates only became stronger and my motivation for my educational drive increased, like a positive slope to a linear equation. When the school year ended and I was selected

As a mathematics major, the concept that most people overlook is that I did not choose to study mathematics because I do well at it; I chose to study mathematics because it makes me smarter. In fact, all throughout junior high and high school I was in remedial mathematics classes and worse, I did not even place into a freshman year mathematics class in high school. I had to re-take 8th grade mathematics. However, something about mathematics excited me. Maybe it was the fact that mathematics never came easy to me and I wanted to prove to myself that not only could I pass mathematics classes, I could actually understand and excel at them. For me, mathematics is not about the arbitrary numbers, trivial solutions, meaningless formulas, or repetitive computation: it is about the progress of knowledge and human understanding.

This all changed as I entered BC as an econ Major. I knew i still had a passion for math somewhere Inside me and I figured that by majoring in Econ I could remain tangentially involved in math while pursuing something else. I also registered for Dr. Goldsteins Calc I with integrated precalculus as a remedial way to fulfil my math core requirement. Dr. Goldstein really opened my eyes. Coming out of highschool in a less than ideal position with math I honestly believed I was just not a ‘math person’ I lost all confidence in my ability with math. Dr. Goldstein took her two semester course very slowly with us, and filled the majority of my gaps in math knowledge within the first semester. I realised there are no ‘math people’ there are only those who search for and find their passion in math. I was enabled with the knowledge and the confidence to pursue math in college; and this was by far the most liberating experience of my freshman

In junior High School, things started to turn around for me. Although I was still placed in lower level classes, I developed a love for learning. In the years to come from Junior High to High School, I had a strong urge to make up for lost time. One class I started to excel in was the one I used to have the most trouble with, Mathematics. It seemed as though the once boring and complex equations now seemed meaningful and simple. As I progressed into 8th grade, I was able to advance to normal classes. I felt that the hard work I put in was finally paying of. At this point, I felt that I could handle a higher level. At the end of 8th grade, I took the necessary procedures and tests to try and get into honor - level courses in 9th grade. After taking a summer course of Algebra 1 and several tests I was able to succeed and take the classes. The experience was great. I felt that I was finally going the right direction

The writing I did this semester for Engl 110c has meant alot to me because I was able to pick a topic that has such a huge impact in my life. I was able to do the topic about Navy Wives, which has a huge impact on me. I recently became a navy wife a year ago and my life has changed drastically. I was able to share everything I wanted to about the life of a military wife through my writings, as well as share to my classmates about my topic. I really enjoyed creating my ePortfolio because I could come out of my shell and be me. I made a ePortfolio website that would be for military wives to read. I believe this website would be perfect for any military wife reading it. I was able to give tips and information on what it’s like to be a military wife, how to prepare for deployments and how to stay strong being a military wife.