Terri Goshorn (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        Math was impossible in grade school. Terri Goshorn couldn't get it. Still struggling in 10th grade, she dropped out.

        “I hated school. I didn't know how to learn. I would study so much.” It earned her nothing but condescending remarks: She's never going to amount to anything.

        A failed marriage and three children later, she tried to get her GED. Twice she failed by a point.

        Then she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Beating it gave her another chance to start fresh. She began eating better, exercising.

        She attempted the GED a third time, and passed. Then she took on a bigger challenge: classes at Northern Kentucky University.

        She enrolled in remedial algebra, and failed. She tried again. And failed. The instructor saw Ms. Goshorn was working hard, and suggested she visit the disability services office.

        She was told she has seven learning disabilities. Also, a high IQ.

        NKU's counselors and tutors “have slowly pulled me out,” she says. Out of the deep rut of futility and into a world where she knows what's possible.

        Now 41 and married, the Alexandria resident has earned an associate degree in liberal arts. Within a year she should have a bachelor's in speech communication, a major that doesn't require much math.

        Then again, the third time Terri Goshorn took algebra, she earned an A.

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