Education & Opportunity

My Dec. 21 newspaper column is one of my personal favorites. It focuses on the inspirational story of Jessica Kirkpatrick, a student who was once told she didn't have the brain power to learn higher-level math. For anyone who has ever been told that they weren't smart enough, talented enough, or good enough by an authority figure (I've experience that first-hand), I think her story really resonates.

Some people wouldn't expect a student with a learning disability--someone who reads at the 18th percentile level--to be among the nation's most promising young scientists. But Jessica discovered how she learns best... adapting her learning strategies to play to her strengths. Now she's getting her Ph.D. from Cal Berkeley.

The fact that she also won the Marshall Scholarship is remarkable. For those of you who don't know, it's very similar to being named a "Rhodes Scholar." Plenty of folks at my college, Harvard, spent four years pursuing the Marshall prize and never even came close.

In any newspaper column, of course, one has space limitations. Here's some interesting points about Jessica's experience that I would have liked to include:

• It's important to find a college that fits you best. One of the reasons Jessica chose Occidental College is because of the strength of its resources for those with learning differences. Jessica had such a good experience at Occidental that her younger sister also decided to attend the school.

• Even if you're struggling in school that doesn't mean you should stop doing extracurricular activities altogether to focus on homework. When Jessica was struggling there was pressure on her to spend all of her time studying. But she insisted that her after-school activities were helping her learn in different ways from her coursework. Jessica's dad, Jim, was skeptical at first but later came to agree. "Jessica taught me that her education occurred in many different venues," says Jim. "All of those other jobs and activities she did were important, too."
• No matter if you have a formal "learning disability" or not, you still learn in your own unique way. Have you made a point of discovering how you learn best? Start observing yourself and recording what works. Jessica, for instance, discovered that she is a very visual learner--she needs lots of pictures and images to solidify information. Therefore, when she's doing research online, she tries to find sites that supply those visuals.

Congratulations to Jessica on all her success. If you have your own questions for her, post them below and I'll pass them along! We might even be able to get her to make some postings on this site....