During my seventh grade year, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight was released and I, alongside other millions of girls around the U.S., was with Team Edward. Also, in case it is not obvious from my photos, I was a total "theatre kid"--I spent many hours after school helping with theatre productions both in tech and in acting. And I loved every moment of it.
All throughout elementary school, I absolutely loved school. My mother would read books with me in the evenings, which would spur my curiosity and further nurture my love for learning. My name was in the Whispering Pines Elementary School’s Panda Press every month for straight A’s.
It was not until my sixth grade Pre-Algerbra class that for the first time, academically, I started to struggle. I remember taking the same assignment home three times to “redo” it because I simply did not grasp the concept. Unfortunately, my mom, though she tried to help, was also limited since these were concepts she no longer remembered how to do. My teacher grew quite frustrated with me that I did not understand and that I was struggling. Instead of making me feel supported, she made me feel shame and anxiety toward math, which unfortunately would be a sensation that lingered beyond sixth grade.
Unbeknownst to me, that experience would haunt me throughout the remainder of my primary school years and even up until my first year of college. It was not until my second graduate program that I finally began exploring this thing called Imposter Syndrome.
