Senior Dasmin Wash experienced a challenging first semester of her junior year. She was getting bad grades with little explanation why. When she learned of her learning disability, her whole mindset changed. She now takes those struggles and turns them into motivation.

“Junior year I was struggling a lot in math, and that’s when I found out I had a learning disability,” Wash said. “I didn’t remember stuff, or I couldn’t comprehend stuff as quickly as other students did.”

Wash believes that the best thing to do with bad grades is to never give up. She says that it’s up to students to get their act together and try very hard. Wash also claims that it is important to take encouragement from people around you.

“Don’t give up because you’ll fail easier that way. Just believe in yourself because you can get it if you study, work hard. Just believe that you can do anything,” Wash said.

There are many reasons why students may have failed. The main reasons, according to guidance counselor Brianna Underwood, are the transition from one grade to the next, with things like homework, organization and home issues. She believes that students’ willingness to try hard in school is also a big factor.

“Some of the things that we see impacting overall is just students’ willingness to try,” Underwood said. If they would put in a little bit of effort, and work with their teacher… maybe working on that organization piece. That’s some of the things that we see.”

Underwood claims that when a student has failed, the most important thing is that they do not give up. There are plenty of resources that can be used to guarantee success. These include iPass, Math Lab, Ask Rose, the public Library and teachers willing to stay before or after school. According to Underwood, students should take full advantage of these opportunities.

“We have a lot of really awesome resources for our students to help them get back on track,” Underwood said.