I remember how hard I had to fight to convince my mom to let me go to Loomis, little did I know, I was in for a major shock. When I arrived at Loomis I immediately felt out of place. The way I spoke, dressed, and wrote, were so different than a lot of my peers. I felt out of place the first day of school. I was at a lunch table filled with white kids when the subject changed to SSAT scores. Everyone went around the table saying their scores: 95%, 87%, 99%, 83%. When It came to me, I responded with "oh I don't remember mine". That was the first in a long time that I felt like I was the dumbest one in the room. Although Loomis did a lot to make sure everyone felt comfortable and well prepared by offering tutoring, I knew I was behind.
Usually when freshman come in they start with Algebra 2 Trigonometry. This class wan't taken until at least junior year in high school where I'm from. I tried my hardest to stay in the class, I had tutors, met for extra help, but I couldn't catch up. My teacher suggested that I move down to Algebra 1 (A1). At Loomis, A1 was known as a class for the dumb kids essentially. It was for people who couldn't pass math/ needed to built their understanding of Algebra. I spent half a semester failing Algebra 2 before I finally allowed myself to move down to A1. Taking A1 has a way of making people feel inferior. Other kids would brag about how they were in Geometry advanced as a freshman, when I couldn't even survive the regular classes. With time I gained my confidence back in the classroom and not only catch up in math, but doubled in math sophomore and senior year as well.
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