The most common theme that comes to mind is my parents involvement in my education. Both had only graduated from high school but my siblings and I were always encouraged to get the most we could out of life, to never miss an opportunity when it came knocking at our door and to go to college. Although I came from a poor family and lived in a poor town, I achieved success in school and graduated from college because of my parents encouragement and because New York had an excellent public education system. I was an above average student requiring minimal effort to get good grades.
My Dad comes to mind more than my Mom when it came to supporting my educational efforts but that's not saying my Mom wasn't involved. I remember my Dad teaching me how to study for Science and Social Studies tests in grade school as these were two of the subjects I struggled with. He taught me how to study and he would quiz me the night before my test. He was also the person we didn't want to see if we had gotten in trouble at school. Since his work schedule had more flexibility, it was he who would have the
parent teacher meetings. He made it very clear that we were to respect our teachers and if we
received calls home for bad behavior there would be some pretty severe consequences. This taught me to be a well behaved, respectful student.
Another theme that comes to mind is how my educational success was directly related to how much effort I put into it. I know this seems like common knowledge but I remember being amazed that everytime I studied I would get an A and if I didn't it would be a B or C. This was only because I didn't have the
self esteem to even see my potential. During middle school my house wasn't a conducive place to study after school, so I never did and it showed in my grades. They were always average. It became more conducive while I was in high school so I started to study again, and it was during my high school years that I realized I
was fully capable of being an honor roll student.
My favorite teacher in the entire world was my Orchestra teacher in middle school, who later became my private violin instructor, colleague and one of my closest friend's who I still have contact with today. She was so encouraging and easy to get along with and really knew how to connect with each of her students. I don't know if I would've become a violinist had it not been for her. Her encouragement carried me through middle and high school and I went on to study violin in college.
