I hate math, I love it. by Ataly

I hate math, I love it. by Ataly - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

Growing up, I've always been a natural at reading. I understood grammar, spelling, stories, all of it. This was not the same when it came to math. My earliest memory of being frustrated with math was when we learned how to read clocks. You might be thinking to yourself, that's not math, but it had numbers involved so to my third grade self it sure was. I stared at the circle drawings of clocks on the front page of the thick placement test packet, and looked up in desperation to our clocks hanging on the wall, covered of course, by white paper. I watched as my fellow classmates turned in their tests and scribbled answers on the paper. My heart got heavier by the second. Finally, I completely gave up and turned the test in blank. I'd now be put with the dumb class and all my friends would wonder how I didn't know how to read a clock. I couldn't believe myself.
Fast forward a few years to middle school, I still struggled with math but got offered to take a placement exam for advanced math. Get done with math faster? I couldn't sign myself up fast enough. Myself and a handful of my classmates ended up passing, which meant going into 7th grade we would learn 7th and 8th grade math. I struggled my way through but it all felt worthwhile knowing I was saving myself from sitting through more mundane math classes in the future.
When I finally arrived to high school, I felt squirmy just thinking about going to math. I knew in elementary and middle school that those grades didn't really matter and wouldn't affect much (even if my teachers wanted me to believe that) but in high school, that was no longer the case. So there I was, my first Geometry class Freshman year in a class of all Sophomores. None of my friends were in it. . . great. I sat down at my assigned seat and hoped for the best. I ended up next to a football player and a new girl. We ended up becoming good friends and I actually looked forward to going to math. I ended up understanding Geometry pretty well and found myself helping them often.
The rest of high school math was not the same. I remember numerous times sitting at the kitchen table flustered, telling my Dad, "I just don't understand why we have to learn math, I'm never going to use this again in my life." He never failed to patiently answer, "That's not the point, the point is that it teaches you how to think and problem solve." I scoffed and rolled my eyes as we continued on, but slowly those words started to chip away at me. I realized math taught me not only critical thinking skills, but also how to persevere through challenges and not give up. So while most often when I'm asked about math I just say I hate it and I'm not good at it, deep down I know I secretly appreciate all that it has taught me and maybe, just maybe, sometimes I love it.