Reaching Infinity by Elihu

Reaching Infinity by Elihu - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

In my 11th grade calculus class I was lost. I couldn’t grasp the concept of infinity, and it seemed to be the key to figuring out this higher-level math. It didn’t help that my classmates appeared to understand it perfectly. I remember many nights of glazing over the textbook and turning in sub-par work the next day. Setting a 30 minute timer, I’d jot down a couple of thoughts on the problems, and if I didn’t understand them, I simply gave up. “It just doesn’t make sense,” I would tell myself late in the evening, and my math teacher the next morning.

One day my teacher looked at my homework problems and told me I needed to redo them. The assignment was messy and incorrect, and he saw I hadn’t put my best foot forward. That night I was frustrated. The math concepts just weren’t coming naturally to me, and I wanted to put in minimal effort and achieve quick success. I realized that success isn’t being inherently or instantly good at something, but rather working hard and then bearing the fruit of perseverance and diligence. My study habits and tactics needed cultivation if I was going to conquer this course’s material.

I changed my attitude and humbled myself by asking purposeful questions, even multiple times, never moving on from a concept until truly and completely understanding it. Rereading the textbook when an idea wasn’t quite clear, I spent hours, rather than minutes, wrestling with example problems. My overarching shift was mental. Instead of thinking, “This doesn’t make sense,” I told myself, “This doesn’t make sense, YET,” and I didn’t give up until I could say, “Ok, NOW I understand!”