My Journey Into Mathematics

My story begins in 2016. This was the beginning of Sophomore year. I was never really a gifted kid. I got pretty average grades all through out elementary school and middle school. They placed me into a pre-calculus class that year and I was not doing well at all. I was about to finish the 1st quarter with a C! I went home and contemplated what I should do. My dad is an engineer. I knew he would be extremely disappointed in me. I decided I would learn the entire course by myself and hopeful get extra credit. Sounds ludicrous, right? Sophomore year me was absolutely determined to do this. I hopped onto a familiar website to most people, Khan Academy. I soon learned how beautiful math truly is and that it is not just a grade. I saw the beauty in the relationships between numbers and I realized that mathematics is the language of the universe. I felt like I could learn everything.

After months of hard work and sleepless nights, I had finished the pre-calculus section on Khan Academy. My teacher luckily saw this and I ended up with an A- for the quarter and finished out the rest of the year with 99's and 100's. That is not the point of this story though. I want to explain to everyone that no matter how often you get called "average" or "dumb", you AREN'T.

Your brain is capable of anything and everything. Nobody was born a genius, knowing every mathematical rule and algorithm. They were taught. We all started off in the same place. We were ALL a child at one point, observing the world with developing brains. Einstein was not born knowing his theory of relativity. He was taught the essentials, like we all were, and built off of that.

I don't want anybody to feel depressed or anything if you feel dumb. Thank you for reading this and I hope this has motivated you to pursue your dreams, math related or not.