When I was in third grade, my parents let me join an advanced preparatory math class, Sigma.________, I had never displayed a liking for math at school. I stepped into class on the first day thinking that I would spend a year at Sigma before leaving A: On the first day of class, we __________an hour long test. I_________did the best I could and tried to________ how to solve the problems I hadn't learned how to do in school. However, ________I hadn't expected was to come__________! Before that day, I had never believed I was good at math at all. But as the year went on, I___________got the highest score.

When I was in eighth grade, I joined my school's math team where I was one of the__________four students chosen to __________our school at a statewide middle school math competition. By the time I had created a_______for myself at school as a math girl. But what drew me to the math team was that it was the first community I felt like I was a real_________of. It was a home I _________where everyone was as excited about _________as I was.

I stopped going to Sigma when I was in ninth grade, but I still stayed in the math team. The math team isn’t like sigma-a place to make you believe in yourself, to take________tests and compete to see where you are______     relative to your classmates. The math team is the community where I have pushed myself to my__________and have seen other people__________themselves. And most _________, the math team is the place where I have met some of the kindest people I know today. Thank you, math team, for giving me friends and people I will _________even after I go off to college in less than a year and a half. Thank you for making me feel__________.

When I was in junior high school，

what my friends thought of me was really important to me.During those years，I grew much_____ than most of my peers (同龄人).Being so tall made me feel _____.In order to keep the focus off my unusual _____，I went along with the crowd who would _____ other kids at school.It made sure that the tricks were _____ at others，and not at me.

Once before a _____ class，my friends and I pulled a _____ trick on one of the kids on the basketball team，which made him terribly embarrassed.I thought it was going to be funny，_____ it all ended up that no one thought it was.

My parents didn’t   always   think   that my _____ was funny.They reminded me about“The Golden Rule”： to ______ others as I would like to be treated.What I was doing was ______ other kids，and in turn hurting my ______ as someone to be looked up to.My friends were looking up to me ______ I was tall，but what did they see？

My parents   wanted me to be a leader who set a good ______ to others.They taught me to set my own goals，and to do the ______ at everything that I set out to do.They told me to be the leader that I was ______ to be－to be a big man in my heart and actions，as well as in my body.I had to ______ myself whether or not I would be the kind of leader and person my parents ______ I was inside，but I knew in my heart that they were ______.

“Be a leader，Shaquille，not a (n) ______.Since people already have to look up to you，give them a good reason to do so.”