Next school year I'm planning to attend Oregon State University. I have not fully decided what to study yet, but I am leaning towards food science. Throughout all my years of schooling, I have always enjoyed math, and I have often considered it my favorite subject in school. When I saw this scholarship, I thought it seemed perfect for me. When thinking back on my math classes and everything I learned in them. I thought about learning the times table in my third-grade class. I know it seems pretty basic since this is something everyone does, but for some reason memories of learning multiplication have stuck with me. Like many other classes, we had weekly timed tests for multiplying by every number from zero to nine. For the test, you start at zero, and if you pass that test, the next week you move on to ones, then twos, and so on. I remember learning songs and other tricks to help memorize the multiplication for certain numbers. I specifically remember the song for threes; it has stuck with me all these years. Any time I need to count by threes, I sing that song in my head. I also remember in third grade, my teacher read us a book called 7 x 9 = Trouble. This book was about a third grader who, like us, was learning the times table. His class did their tests the same way as us, but if they passed all their tests, on the last day of school they would get an ice cream sandwich. And of course my teacher decided that we should do this too. Through the school year, I studied hard and passed many of my tests. Like many other students, I got a little hung up on my times sevens. So it took me much longer than I would have liked for me to pass this test. But finally, during the second-to-last week of school on our last multiplication test, I made it to my times nines. If you don’t know, there is a trick for doing times nines where you count it on your hands. I had been practicing this trick with my parents, and I was ready to pass the times nines test and conquer the times table. And let’s not forget that ice cream sandwich. Unfortunately on test day I somehow managed to fail my times nine test by one point, and I didn’t get my ice cream sandwich. Even though I didn’t get my ice cream sandwich, it was still worth it to learn those quick multiplication skills. I personally believe that these tests and the time I spent learning multiplication helped set me up for all of the other successes I have had in math classes. It taught me the value of having a goal and working towards it. It taught me that you shouldn’t give up when you get stuck on those times sevens. And it taught me the value of studying for tests, a skill I use in every class. I’m sure these skills will follow me through my future studies in college, just like I’m sure I will always sing that counting by threes song in my head every time I multiply by three.