“I don’t know." My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Gregory, says as she scratches her armpits. Me, being the nine-year-old that I was, thought, "Ew, why is she scratching her pits in front of us? How could she not know? She is the teacher, not me." Ten years later, here I am, writing about her and her underarms. There were times where Mrs. Gregory made me upset, and there were times where she reminded me how much of an amazing person I am. When Mrs. Gregory mentioned how she was unsure of certain things, it showed that she was human, and like everyone else, Mrs. Gregory wasn't perfect. Through her ups and downs and her highs and lows, Mrs. Gregory positively impacted my life because she showed me that being imperfect is okay. I used to doubt myself and compare my success to other people. When I failed a test, I would ridicule myself. I would feel like a failure because I was putting others down. But, when I think back to Mrs. Gregory, she would always remind me that failure is only an event. Failure comes and goes, and no one wants to fail, but failure leads to improvement. Mrs. Gregory instilled that my wins will always overpower my losses. Because of Mrs. Gregory, I no longer doubt my intelligence because I am a human, and I come with my imperfections and perfections. (P.S. scratching your armpits is completely human). As a first-generation student, the reason why I am in college is because of my future. Education is a valuable factor to have; however, I want to be able to provide for myself and my future family financially is a factor I want to have, too. Going into the spring semester, I am nervous about my classes. However, I have three more years of this, and I know that this is only the beginning. My past self has been through enough, and the present me is happy. But, I want future me to reach genuine happiness, and I know that college will be the answer for me to achieve my goals of breaking the generational curse and being the first to do things that I never thought I would be doing. For some people, college isn't the answer, which is valid. For me, I don't know if it is exactly the answer, but I know it is constantly ringing, and I will always be there to pick up the phone.