One of the main reasons why I went into academia was because of students like Danielle. I am never more gratified than when I am taking the time to guide a young lady such as Danielle as she struggles to master important life skills. This semester I gave Danielle plenty to chew on (in the figurative sense of course—I do not mean to suggest that she ever uses her teeth). At times, the young lady’s struggles were truly comic to witness as she struggled to wrap her head around the tools offered to her and to work her way down to the base of the subject. Typically she would progress half the distance before she appeared to change her mind, as if she were somehow suffocating on the subject matter. Only through repeated, forceful encouragement has she been able to make progress, and I believe she has reached depths of understanding that she did not even realize existed inside of her. It is fascinating and entertaining to observe the kinds of things that flow and burp out of a girl like Danielle when she is probed deeply. Indeed, my colleagues and I joke that, given the amount of information being fed to Danielle, it might be advisable to procure a bib for her to wear! All in all, a promising young student, and I have every hope that Danielle will be able to reach the root of the material by the end of spring semester. Fall grade.

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