I was never pressured to do well, I just did well for my own sake. The only thing my mother wanted was for me to go to college and to get a better education than she had. I'm pretty much the only one in the family to go to college so it was a big deal. But I was not pressured into getting good grades.

In high school, I was on the honor roll for the most part (I did get a couple of C's but I never got any slack from my mother). And in college I graduated cum laude. I did that for myself and it made my mother proud, I know.

I always wished I was one of those kids who was given cash for their grades, but that never happened.