Who would've guessed it?

 

Jason used to say, "Don't worry honey.  It'll click for him someday."  Well, that "someday" happened in high school, and boy did he run with it.  On Saturday, Jack graduated from college with a major in Math and Education (he minored in Computer Science).  Not only did he graduate with the degree in math, but he did it Summa Cum Laude.  I cannot tell you how proud we were that he graduated, but that he graduated with a MATH degree.  His dad would've been so stinking proud of him.  

You see, Jack struggled in school.  And I mean STRUGGLED.  In 1st grade, his dad had to have a parent meeting with Jack's teacher because Jack kept stuffing his math papers (and only his math papers) in the back of his desk.  In upper elementary, we'd frantically finish MATH papers because he didn't turn them in.  He always had to stay for MATH tutoring in elementary and junior high.  Only in junior high when he realized that it helped him understand it better, did I not have to feel like the World's Worst mom for making him stay.  

In junior high, his 7th grade math teacher (and Navy veteran) helped him realize that tutoring wasn't so bad, and that people were willing to help you out if you showed the effort and that you cared.  In high school, his Offensive Line coach (who got his doctorate in math) and a couple of other math teachers helped him understand that he did truly know the math, he just needed the confidence.  His geometry teacher encouraged him to take Pre-AP Algebra, and his algebra teacher encouraged him to take Pre-AP Algebra III.  When he went to college to play football and pursue his degree, they placed him as an English major even though he thought he wanted to do math.  After a year of that, he decided English wasn't where his passion was and switched to math.  He truly took off after that.

As a Reading/Language Arts teacher, it was always amazing to hear him explain a concept to someone.  He has also begun looking at computer sciences and AI and built his own computer.  His dad and I always knew it would click for him.  And it did.