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Ms. Linda Toombs, the guidance counselor in charge of scheduling, worked closely with me each semester to help me arrange a schedule that would meet all of the requirements, and also allow me to take advantage of the ESS program in a way that was better suited for my needs. She was a huge help to me in understanding what classes I needed to take and then making sure that I would have someone help me learn the study skills to succeed in them. Ms. Macki Lavender was my ESS teacher all three years, and she did wonders in helping me crack the code on how to learn.

Everyone has a different way of learning, and my teachers began to try out different styles to find mine. We quickly realized that the more I was involved with the material--like acting it out or reading it out loud or talking through it--the better I did. Things were sticking and I was able to build on them with new material. It was a huge rush.

Ms. Lavender would help me work on my assignments, especially for my English classes, as I learned how to do things like write research papers, which was totally foreign to me. We did a lot of memorization work my senior year, too. Students were supposed to learn important passages from famous books and recite them in front of the class. I was so excited when I learned mine by heart that the second I saw my English teacher, I begged to say my piece. It didn't matter that we were in the middle of the lunch line; I just rattled the whole thing off because I was so proud of what I'd accomplished.

I wasn't always so enthusiastic about memory work, though. In fact, I remember how happy I was when I finished writing my first paper--and then Ms. Lavender told me I needed to cite it.

I panicked. "I have to recite it? I can't learn this whole thing by memory!"

Ms. Lavender explained that citing the paper just meant that I have to record where I got the information. That made me laugh hard because I was so relieved, but it also made me realize that I was starting to turn a corner in my confidence.

I think that a lot of times students who come from rough backgrounds struggle to learn because they are afraid to embarrass themselves by asking questions about what they don't understand. Ms. Lavender did a good job of making my learning time with her very relaxed, which meant that it felt like a safe place to ask questions. I didn't have to be afraid that she would be annoyed or frustrated or think I was dumb. She made me feel comfortable so that I could feel confident enough to ask for explanations on what I was still trying to learn. That was something I had never done before and I think it was a huge obstacle in my schoolwork.

AS MY STUDY PLAN DEVELOPED and my performance in class improved, I was able to bring my grades up to the point that the principal approved me to play the very end of the basketball season that first year at Briarcrest. I can't tell you what a huge victory that was for me to know that my hard work in the classroom was going to pay off for me on the court. I spent plenty of time on the bleachers that winter, watching the team practice and wanting so badly to be down there playing with them. That was my motivator. If I ever found I was thinking about giving up, I would go down to the gym and watch the team. That helped remind me why I was going through all the extra work. It would be worth it to get a shot to play ball, and maybe get noticed by a junior college scout.

I ran track that spring after basketball ended, and surprised everyone with my speed in the 40-meter dash. I also tried discus-throwing because a coach suggested it. I'd never even heard of such a thing, but he seemed to think I might be good at it. So I took the discus, watched a couple of other people take their turns to study their stance--and then I threw. Apparently, I did pretty well because my coach started laughing like a maniac when they measured where it hit, and after that discus became part of my training and competition list for the rest of my high school track career. (In fact, in 2005, I was the state runner-up in discus