Jada Sullivan Essay by Jada

Jada Sullivan Essay by Jada - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

One academic topic that challenged me at first but ultimately strengthened my critical thinking skills was Algebra 2. I took this class sophomore year of high school. At first, I felt good about the class because it was topics I had learned before in Algebra 1, but then as we went by in the school year it started to get hard. No matter how hard I tried to understand the new topics I just couldn't. I would be up all night trying to figure out new and easy ways to solve the problems. Many nights I would give up and start crying myself to sleep.

Instead of giving up, even though I wanted to many times. I went on Youtube and searched up videos of Algebra 2 . I found a video of the exact concepts that I was struggling with and I finally learned how to solve the problems. I was so happy. After solving multiple practice problems I felt confident that I would know how to solve problems in class. The next class I had a test and I passed it for the first time.

This strengthened my critical thinking skills because it taught me that there are multiple ways to solve math problems. I learned how to break down problems in different ways and how to look for different resources on something I am struggling with. Algebra 2 showed me persistence and how a challenge can be turned into a learning opportunity.