I Beat the Odds_ From Homelessness, to the Blind Side, and Beyond - Michael Oher [42]
I watched jealously as Steve was making friends and getting ready for basketball season. I wanted so badly to be a part of that, but no matter how much I tried to learn the Gateway materials, the more lost I got. I was overwhelmed because everyone just assumed that I'd had at least some kind of normal schooling up to that point, so they jumped right into the material and expected that I would be able to catch up quickly. I've always liked numbers, so the math courses weren't as big of a challenge as the other subjects. But the worst subject of all for me was Spanish. That was where I really had no idea what I was supposed to be learning. I'd never learned the different parts of speech in English, or how to identify different tenses or verb conjugation--or what those things even meant. And all of a sudden, I was trying to learn how to do it in another language. It was impossible. Overwhelming. Hopeless.
It was probably the most frustrating situation I had ever found myself in. I knew that this was likely going to be my one chance for a real education. What was even more important to me, though, was that Briarcrest was going to be a chance to play sports in a setting that would not only get me good coaching but also open up doors for other opportunities, like getting into a junior college. As tempting as it was to go back to my old school in my old neighborhood and just hang out, I also knew that if I did go back I would never leave. I knew I would never make it out of that part of the city and that way of living. But how does a sophomore in high school learn everything he is supposed to learn with no formal instruction--especially if he's never been taught any of the basic techniques for how to succeed?
But it was also clear to everyone that I was trying, that I was getting up every morning and working with Tony (who was also teaching me how to drive). I was also trying to apply myself to Gateway lessons for the weekly test. I hated it, but I kept at it.
You don't go through that if you're stupid and you don't work that hard if you're just a lump. I think the people around me could tell that I was driven by something and they decided that I must have wanted that education badly enough to do everything I could to try to get it, even if it looked hopeless.
Several months into the school year, after watching me fight my way through the workbooks and tests with Gateway, Tony called Briarcrest and asked them to reconsider admitting me right away. Not all of the teachers and administrators were enthusiastic about it, but they finally looked at the effort I was making and the rut I was stuck in, and they agreed on the condition that I get extra study-skills help and that I not play any sports until my grades improved. The school has a program called ESS (Educational Support System), which is for students like me with a weak foundation in academic skills. ESS was a good resource for me while I also learned things like note-taking, study skills, and time management.
And so about halfway through the school year, I suddenly found myself standing in a crowded hallway at Briarcrest, head and shoulders above all the other students who were filing past me in the hallway. All I could wonder, though, as I looked around, was if I was the one in over my head.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
High School
My first day at Briarcrest was overwhelming. It was already almost halfway through the school year, so there wasn't anyone else with the first-day-of-school nerves that I had.
It wouldn't be until the next year that the high school would move over to the huge new campus I'd seen when Tony took Steve and me there over the summer.