Way Over My Head
A loophole in my Physics class kept me from failing the class and having my college acceptance rescinded.
Long story short: it was senior year, last semester of high school. My final finals week of high school. I ended up taking a physics class that was WAY over my head. I wasn’t a bad student, just could not wrap my head around physics.
Went into our final assignment with an F. The assignment was on buoyancy and we needed to make a boat out of cardboard that could support you and your partner in a pool.
My buddy and I built our boat and the day came for everyone to test the quality of their boats in my buddy’s pool (bad idea in hindsight. Pool cloudy with glue by the end.)
To get full credit, you needed to go back and fourth once across the pool without sinking. Then my teach made a big mistake. She offered 40 extra credit points for each additional length paddled before sinking.
A bunch of groups went and most people made it across once before sinking. One team made it ten times. Amazing! Then it was our turn. We were the final group. My buddy and I get in and paddle back and fourth. Nice! Then another length. And another. And another. And another…
We went back and fourth SIXTY TIMES. Finally our teacher made us stop. We weren’t even close to sinking. I got 2400 extra credit points on my last final in high school and went from an F to an A-. Greatest redemption story of my life. Our teacher was awesome and totally honored what she said. Good times!
Story credit: Reddit / byfuryattheheart