My Formative Experience

Throughout my life, I have had my fair share of noteworthy and formative experiences, shaping me into the person I am today in every aspect of my life. However, the experience that has had the greatest impact on my educational and personal development was when I was denied an opportunity by my teachers and, instead of backing down, taught myself and succeeded the next year.

At the end of seventh grade, my math teachers reviewed the test scores and grades of each student and made a decision that they would allow two boys to go to the high school to learn geometry the next year. Initially, I was devastated and confused by having not be chosen; I was a strong student in many areas, but especially in math. However, I doubled down on my studies in the final year of middle school and continued my preparations into the summer after eighth grade. In the

In those three short months, I had learned almost a full textbook on this form of math.

Upon beginning my first year of high school and my first geometry class, I quickly realized that I already knew all of the information in our text book, confirming my suspicions, I took the textbook home and found that I was familiar with the information in ten of the eleven total chapters. With a renewed sense of confidence, I talked to our advanced learning coordinator, a trusted advisor and old friend, and my guidance counselor. While the counselor believed it would be impossible for me to be placed in a more advanced math course, I discussed possible method of placement with my other advisor. Eventually, I came up with the idea that if I could pass the cumulative year final for Geometry, I