"When I was in elementary school, math felt unbearable. I wasn't keeping up with my class and nothing I tried seemed to stick. I bought flash cards and games. I had cassette tapes that played little rhymes to help me remember the multiplication tables. I got help from my mom and my dad and my teacher, all to no avail. The stress of knowing my class was moving ahead without me, and the embarrassment of feeling foolish and inadequate led me to tears more nights than not. In fourth grade, my parents began to see a change in my demeanor. It was a subtle shift from a hard-working student to a class clown that cared more about goofing around than learning multiples. In an act of desperation, they decided to take a shot with a tutor recommended to my mom by a coworker. We were all pessimistic, as so many efforts had been ineffective in the preceding months. I now look back on my first tutoring session with Ms. Starling as the night that reformed my academic career.
I'll never forget her walking into my kitchen with a big smile on her face and bag of props to help me visualize the equations I'd been unsuccessfully trying to memorize. She understood that not every child learns the same way and was prepared, even at our first session, with techniques to assist with any learning style. She came stocked with visuals, games, tricks, and tips, anything I needed to do the equations for class quickly and accurately, and most importantly, with confidence in my ability. Ms. Starling taught me the skills I needed to be successful, but it would have meant nothing without her enduring encouragement; her constant affirmation that I was just as smart as anyone in my class and that I just had to keep trying. And keep trying I did, with her by my side once a week every week, until I left for college eight years later.
I am now in my second year of graduate school at a highly recognized university in Washington, DC, working on a masters of public policy with a concentration in statistics (can you believe it?!). At risk of sounding cliché, I can honestly say I don't know where I'd be if Ms. Starling's smiling face hadn't entered my kitchen that night in 1999. I was undoubtedly headed toward a path that so many kids face, paved with ridicule and embarrassment for not being as successful as their peers. Ms. Starling's dedication to my success, even when I lacked the same dedication myself, was absolutely key to my success today. I am so honored to write this recommendation for a woman who has left a lasting mark on my life, as she has with so many others; a woman I truly believe changes lives."
