When I was in elementary school I was typically known as the “teacher’s pet” – the girl who always got favored by the teacher for one reason or another. I’m sure I can attribute most of it to my good grades and positive attitude about school. Even when my attitude wasn’t so nice, no one could deny my intelligence. Fast forward to college – nothing much changed about me. I remained dedicated to my studies and involved in the community inside and outside of on campus organizations. But there was one difference between college and grade school – I was no longer the 3.8 student. I was the 3.2 student who by the time senior year came, became the 2.96 student. It seemed like no amount of studying in the world would save me from my inevitable decrease in GPA. But the work ethic and dedication was still there. And it’s because of that, that I remained the “teacher’s pet” – well at least had some favor with them.
Engineering is hard. But regardless of the C’s I got on homework, exams, and sometimes as a final grade, my professors still saw something in me – something to be proud of. So when it came time to ask for recommendations for graduate school, much to my surprise I got all “Yes’s” which alleviated the knot that formed in my stomach from the fear of them saying “No”. It was because of that favor that made my work ethic recognized by someone who didn’t really know who I was, but was willing to give me a chance. And its that same work ethic that kept me in the memory of the professor of my first tough class – Circuits. He was the person that told me I was capable when I wanted to quit. He is also the person who revealed how proud he was of me after briefly sharing my accomplishments with him after not speaking to him for about a year and a half.
So if you decided to skip some of the background story above here’s the moral of it all – make an impact. You impact and influence people everyday with your personality and your actions (or lack there of). Make sure that the impression you leave in people’s minds is a great one. It definitely feels good for your 1st grade teacher, your 8th grade teacher, your 12th grade teacher, and even your sophomore year of college professor, say the words “I’m proud of you”.