By Sabrina ’26
Harvard-Westlake has incredible academics not just for their challenge, but because that challenge teaches you about yourself. You learn to be resilient, tenacious, and redefine what learning means to you. The classes that Harvard-Westlake offers truly teach beyond the subject in ways I never would have expected. I thought I was just learning precalculus but I was actually learning life lessons like how to be more confident and pushing myself towards goals and overcoming obstacles I never thought I could. It’s a common experience for students to believe that grades are everything, especially at a school known for its academic excellence. However, no test, grade, or percentage could ever quantify your own personal growth and rediscovery of your passion for the subject.
Sophomore year I took Advanced Precalculus, a class I had a hard time in right from the beginning. I really struggled with test anxiety and it felt like the hours I poured into studying would go down the drain the second I sat down in front of my paper. I spent almost every day in the math office with my teacher going over the material so that I was prepared. My math teacher was so supportive and I knew that as long as I sought guidance and advocated for myself, he would be there for me. I learned how to ask for help and even relearned a lot of things I had struggled with from years prior. Even though my grade was not where I wanted it to be, I had never understood the concepts so clearly before. It was an eye opening experience that I really needed – a reminder that I was not working towards a percentage but an understanding, a curiosity about the world. It was upsetting at first to feel like I didn’t have the control I wanted but I stayed in Advanced Precalculus because it was the first time I had found joy for math in years.
I could only have had an experience that reframed my mindset around grades at a school like Harvard-Westlake. Here I could become the best version of myself, a healthier version of myself, that realized I am learning so much more in my classes than any single letter grade could ever sum up. Classes are sometimes difficult because they want you to ask the hard questions, and to confront your reason for taking them in the first place. They want students to realize that they’re not taking this class for a number or a letter, they’re taking it because they want to learn. Classes, teachers, and Harvard-Westlake as a whole, truly help you grow not just as an academic but as a person. I finally understand our mission statement when it says “joyful pursuit of educational excellence.” Sophomore year was one of the hardest school years for me, but even through that struggle, I had never been so happy with myself and the person I was. Excellence is not perfection; it’s passion.
Students learn so much more in the classes at Harvard-Westlake than any test could ever measure. I could never show my own personal and emotional growth on a math test. My grade could never tell the journey I went on in any degree comparable to the way I am right now. Because school isn’t about grades. It’s about the relationships, the challenges, the growth, the support. It’s about being uncomfortable so that you can feel confident. It’s about things you will never get asked on a test, things no “C” or “A” could ever speak for you. I wanted a reminder for myself of how far I had come that year so I decided to make a list of “things a test could never measure,” a list of my own personal growth and what I was learning from Advanced Precalculus that didn’t have to do with the subject. It ranged from being able to keep up with the practice problems in class to overcoming a fear I’ve had since second grade.
So if you’re worried about grades, about the challenge, remember: you will learn things a test could never measure.
