My senior year at Arrowhead started like the past three. I balanced school with football, I spent time with friends, and, most importantly, my grades were up. I wasn’t stressing over grades nor was I behind on any work. The first C of the year was on a calculus quiz. No problem, I thought. I’ll just study harder and the next quiz will be fine. 

Slowly, A’s and B’s turned to B’s and C’s. No matter how much I studied, my grades weren’t improving. With every B, I put more pressure on myself, trying harder in class and doing more practice work. I was a sinking ship as the stress kept rising like the sea. I thought that things wouldn’t get any worse, but then my grandma passed away, and a week later my grandpa passed, too. I felt like I had drowned. In the hurricane of emotion, I thought that focusing on school would help take my mind off of everything else, but it only added to the stress.

Eventually, I went to Mr. Schmid, my calculus teacher, for help. I kept it strictly focused on math as I didn’t want to bring him into the storm. I told him how I was concerned about my grades and asked what he thought. 

He said, “Stop worrying about the grades and focus on learning and understanding the content.” Mr. Schmid told me once I had an understanding of the material, the grades would come up. Most importantly, he told me something I needed to hear: that everything was going to be okay.

Like a lighthouse, Mr. Schmid guided me through my storm. He helped me overcome the stress I had put myself through. The grades in all my classes improved through the semester, not just in calculus. I had a new mindset for school; I focussed on the content and not the grade.

In the two years with Mr. Schmid as my calculus teacher, there hasn’t been a day when I wasn’t greeted with “Hey Matt!” and a smile. He is a compassionate, level-headed, and hard-working teacher who cares about his students and our success. His enthusiasm for math keeps his lectures interesting. So thank you, Mr. Schmid, for being both an excellent teacher and a good friend.