Thanks for your feedback Erika. Testimonials are a great way to help students understand they can be successful no matter what obstacles they encountered earlier in their education experience. I also like to reference biographies that detail the situations of someone in the public eye that may resonate with a particular student. I have heard of other instructors that have even assigned reading such sources to students as extra credit or some type of class project to get students to read about others that had to overcome obstacles and eventually achieved great things later in their life. Just one simple example is General Colin Powell. As a young child his parent's considered him a troubled child and even evolved into a troubled teen but was able to turn things around and went on to be a very prominent person in US History. No matter your military or political views, his life story is very relevant to many students who did not do well in high school and had to overcome obstacles in their life. Hope this all makes sense. Regards, James Jackson