Freshman year, fresh start. Going into Arrowhead Union high school was the scariest thing ever. New school and new faces—and I didn’t know how I could push through the fact that everything was going to change. The feeder school I went to kindergarten through 8th grade was what I was used to. It was a smaller school and not a ton of students, so I had a small friend group throughout those years. Arrowhead was much bigger, I was not ready for about 500 new faces in a new hallway where I will be walking in for the rest of my high school years. It's a new transition in life. Very scary to think about. 

When the first day of high school came around, my schedule had math first. Great, I thought to myself.

I walked into the class, and saw a smiling face, greeting every new student that walked in. 

“Hello class, my name is Mrs. Bonlender.” Her voice was reassuring.

She had on a purple blouse and a black dress that draped the side of her ankles. Her hair was down in a cut of a bob. 

To my surprise, she was kind hearted and seemed to care about each and everyone of her students. Every day from there on walking into her class for the first hour she kept a good attitude no matter what. 

I hated math, the one subject I hate the most. I never understood it. It just never came to me easily when learning about math. But Mrs. Bonlender made it easier and easier when teaching us, she never got annoyed by the amount of questions I had to ask, she answered each and every one of my questions no matter how stupid it was. She made me want to actually learn math. She made it her priority that every student stays on track and knows what they are doing. If a student was struggling, she would make time out of her free period to help that student out so they could excel in her class. She didn’t fail anyone, she wanted everyone to know they were just important individually. 

I struggled. I needed help on this one chapter of math and I just couldn't understand it. Even though I was scared to ask, she went through the unit and explained everything clearly. After developing confidence in myself and practicing more and more with the help of Mrs. Bonlender, I really excelled in a class that, in the beginning, was the worst subject ever. My grades really improved and I was surprised to see that I am actually doing really well in math. 

I want to thank my freshman math teacher for helping me in a subject I struggled in. I am glad to have her as a teacher.