When I was young I thought I could conquer the world. There was absolutely nothing that I could not do. I was sure of it. Why did I believe in myself so completely? That's easy, because my Mom told me to. :) For as long as I can remember my mother convinced me that I could be anything that I wanted to be. She said it with conviction and I bought what she was selling. I was just a child, so I took her words to heart and I aimed for the moon.
As I grew older I realized that there may have been a bit of a flaw in my mother's thinking. I was no dummy but I wasn't exactly a genius either. School had always been fairly easy for me but that did not translate to a high math score on the SAT. I wanted to get into a good college but that one test seemed to be an insurmountable road block. It was probably as much a mental issue as an intellectual one. Mom watched my self esteem drop and like she had done so many times in the past she came to my rescue, this time by hiring Mr. McGettigan as a tutor to help prepare me with a thorough math review. Mr. McGettigan was a remarkable teacher. He had a powerful gift, he could explain math in way that made sense, even to the likes of me. When I first started with Mr. McGettigan, I was still in a very confused state. Sure I understood enough to get by on the tests at school, but I didn't really get the big picture. I would get so frustrated and I was pretty hard on myself. Mr. McGettigan insisted that I keep trying. "You'll get it." He said. "You know this stuff. Keep working. It is in there." He told me that over and over again. Anybody else in their right mind would have given up, but not Mr. McGettigan and before long those letters intermingled with the numbers in a way that finally started to make some sense. When I got to Clemson all of this information eventually came together in a manner that was nothing short of miraculous. It clicked. Finally. Once that happened, there was no stopping me. I finished every math class within the engineering field right up to and including differential equations. I was never the smartest person in any of my classes at Clemson, not even close, but because of the faith, hard work and determination of two very important people I believed that I could do anything, so I did!
I never did earn that engineering degree. I decided that it just wasn't for me, but I still needed to prove to myself that I could do it. I needed to know if I could finish those ridiculously hard math courses on my own before I let myself transfer out of the major. So as silly as it sounds, that is exactly what I did and after I conquered Diffy Qs, I changed my major.
It took me a long time to realize just how important it is to believe in yourself. Now as a teacher I get it. A child can only go as far as they believe they can. Sometimes they lack the faith to realize their potential. That's when they need a Mr. McGettigan or a very stubborn mother. I was lucky enough to have both. So for this week's pay it forward, I am going to carve some time out of my schedule to tutor a very special student that I believe is harboring a ton of untapped potential. (It seems that I may have found a way to use all of that math after all.) This is my way of honoring a great teacher and a fabulous Mom that inspired me to aim high. I did not exactly reach the moon Mom, but I may have hit a small star. :)
Laurie
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