Achieving the Impossible, pt. 2

In Lauren's last post, she wrote about the amazing effect students can have on tutors' lives. Here, Lauren gives another example of a student whose life she changed, who also changed her.

Every student I encounter teaches me something about myself and life. It is important to erase the stereotype that tutors change students only. This is a two way street. Every situation you encounter will teach you something and it is important to embrace these learning experiences to become a better teacher and person.

Enter Andrew. Andrew was a sophomore who needed tutoring for chemistry. Andrew is this adorable, shy guy who just makes your heart melt. He won’t ask questions in class, and he doesn’t raise his hand to answer questions. He’s that guy who wants to be invisible to teachers. When I started working with Andrew, I knew that I needed to break him out of his shell. I tried to be funny with him; he didn’t laugh at my jokes. I tried to talk about volleyball with him; he gave me one word answers. Over time, I continued with my failing techniques and each week, he would open up a little bit more. I was making progress!

But chemistry was a different story. Andrew had zero confidence when it came to chemistry. Not only did I have to help Andrew understand chemistry concepts, I also had to rebuild his confidence in the class. We worked slowly on this, and again, each week, he became more and more confident. I pushed him and put him in uncomfortable situations where he had to rely only on his brain to solve a problem. And after some time, he got it! He was understanding chemistry! He knew the formulas, he knew what to do with the formulas, he knew how to get the correct answer, and he felt confident going into his tests. YAY! This was a huge hurdle that we had overcome!

The only problem was that Andrew was still not doing well on tests. Where was this disconnect coming from? The second Andrew walked into class, everything he knew seemed to disappear. We started working on ways to overcome this and maintain his confidence in the classroom. At the end of the semester, Andrew’s grade was a 79.4%. 0.1% away from a B! Andrew begged and pleaded with his teacher to just boost him up to the B, but unfortunately his teacher wouldn’t budge.

But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. Andrew had learned so much that was beyond chemistry. He had learned more about himself, he had become more social and confident! Reflecting on my time with Andrew, it really made me realize that the important things in life are not getting A’s on chemistry tests. Family, friends, and living in the moment are important. Life is too short not to shoot for the impossible and strive to achieve everything! Andrew really made me realize how important it is to focus on the things you can change, and not to worry about the things you can’t. Andrew couldn’t make his teacher give him that B, but what shows character is not to dwell on the letter grade. What shows character is the realization that what you take away from the experience is what really matters.