I was never one of those students for whom schooling came easily. On the contrary, there were several significant factors to which I owe deep gratitude for getting me through high school and then my years at university. The first and most significant factor that contributed to and I'd even say caused my eventual success in academia was undoubtedly my mother. She was a constant source of encouragement and confidence for me. Another source of inspiration for my studies came from my teachers. One math teacher in particular believed in me like no one else had. He would allow me to stay after school for an hour each evening and he would go back over the lesson from the day in order to ensure that I knew it well. He introduced to calculators to me and even purchased one for me because he knew I'd never own one on my own.

Calculators literally transformed my abilities to get through school. Before my math teacher, Mr. Jonness, got me a calculator and taught me to use it, my lack of natural talent and practice in mathematics brought me to tears almost each afternoon after school. I would head home and begin right away trying to do my math lessons for the next day. Hour and after I would sit in our dining room and struggle over problem after problem. My struggles in mathematics were enough to make me hate everything about school and the prospect of continuing my education.

Thankfully Mr. Jonness and his calculators entered my life just in time and I was able to learn the benefits of calculators and begin to make significant progress in math. Within a year of being introduced to Mr. Jonness and to the magic of calculators, my mathematics abilities had improved enough to wear I didn't dread going to school each morning. I was never at the top of my class in math, but I was able to pass each class with hard with but few tears.

I think my childhood struggles with math, while they were terrible and heartbreaking at the time, served a great purpose in my life. I learned that hard work really does pay off and I saw how something as small as calculators could make all the difference. Mr. Jonness likened my life to a calculator and mathemetics to the world. He said that in the same way that calculators had made math easier for me, so my one small life could make the world easier and better for others.