My journey with school had always been an interesting one. I have been to many schools over the course of my school career. I made friends, laughed a lot, learned a lot and grew a lot. But throughout those years, mathematics was always a point of mental agony for me. I just could not keep up with the expectations of my peers and facilitators.
Now I didn’t know it then, but I was later diagnosed with mathematical dyscalculia. For those of you who don’t know, that’s basically dyslexia with math. So, for most of my younger years my friends and teachers labeled me as stupid because of it. To be fair, not many people know about dyscalculia. Nor did I. I fell for the lie. The lie is that I was stupid, even though I excelled in most of my other subjects.
And because of that I was moved a lot. We just wanted to find the right school and the right teachers for me. In total I went through about four or five schools before we had the idea of home schooling. So, for a year I did homeschooling. To make a long story short, it did not end very well.
Eventually both myself and my mother became desperate for a solution. To which my mother put out a post on Facebook asking for advice. It wasn’t too long before somebody mentioned MPower Learning Center, and what it had done for their child. So, we then arranged a meeting with Marlene, who would later become my teacher.
I have been trying to think of the best way to summarize my experience at MPower. And I think the best way would be to tell you what Marlene told me on my first day. I remember setting up my laptop and Marlene came over to me and told me, “Gabriel, you are not stupid. I see you; I am going to help you.” To others, those words might not be significant, but for me, they meant the world of difference.
They meant so much that I gave huge credit to those words, for helping me thrive and beat the lie that I had believed for all those years. I now realize how many of my friends’ lives might have been different if their teacher had just said those words to them and meant them.
I formed some incredible friendships, and I loved my teachers as well. I learned to approach my academic challenges with confidence, understanding that there is always a solution to be found, regardless of the difficulties faced. For those considering joining MPower. What lie are you believing about your academics? I guarantee that MPower will help you beat it and overcome it.
I did the GED diploma at MPower. I graduated and decided to take two gap years in Jeffreys bay, with a leadership development year. In those two years I joined the National Sea Rescue Institute and trained to become a deep-sea rescue crew member. I travelled to many countries and met many people.
As for right now, I am living in England and I just found out recently that my GED was accepted by the British Military and I will begin my training to become a Combat Medic with the the Royal medical corps and hopefully attach to the parachute regiment soon
I give a massive credit for my ability to do this to MPower. Marlene was the first teacher to believe in me and help me reach my full potential. To those joining MPower I say this to you. Work hard, listen closely, and always ask yourself: What lie did I believe? And what is the truth. If you don’t know the answers, don’t worry MPower will help you find it