GradeLeap was a site that started in the early 1980’s — about 10 years before the world wide web. I say that, because it started based on my own experiences in middle school and high school. I wasn’t much of a student. I didn’t get straight A’s. In fact, I don’t think I ever made honor role, and I do recall begging one teacher to give me a D so I could graduate. It took a great deal of time after graduation to develop the confidence to believe that I could be a good student.
Fast forward to late 1998. I was 27 years old, a flight instructor, and was just finishing a degree in Aerospace Engineering. In a few months I would be hired as a an airline pilot for a mid-sized regional airline. My father, who died earlier that year, did not get to see me graduate. He didn’t get to see me get a job that he knew I dreamed of for years. Although I do think he knew it would all happen, he just wasn’t around to witness it.
The road I took was much longer and much more difficult than it needed to be. And the price of taking that long road was not having my father in the seats while I graduated from college. I still think of that today.
Why GradeLeap?
To understand why GradeLeap came into being, you need to understand a bit more about me. Because my grades in high school were so poor, the only way for me to attend college was via community college. I recall failing an entrance exam to one of the community college’s basic math courses. When I began community college, I was by all means, a blank slate. I had huge gaps in my education that needed to be filled.
It was 1990. One year before the first website would even become reality.
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