Thank You Khan Academy! : www.khanacademy.org

Hi..this is a video intended for

Salman khan and I guess everyone that's part of the Khan academy team now

I know it's more than Sal but I guess this is especially for Sal

My name is Mark Halberstad and I guess I wanted to make this video

because the Khan academy, I think, has really had

a pretty profound impact on my life, especially over the last four years

I really think that the full extent of it is probably going to be realized

over the next 30 or 40.

I guess I wanted to make a short video

explaining a little bit of what's happened to me over the last few years

and how the Khan Academy has helped me with lots and lots of things.

I guess a little bit of background on me...

growing up, I was really always a 'C' student.

I was really always petrified in shcool.

I dont think I have ever gotten higher than a B+ in any math class ever.

And I think when I went away to college, I graduated high school in 2002,

and I pretty much thought that the only thing I was good enough to do

in college was major in music.

And I went off and got a music degree in saxophone.

I had a great time doing it, I really enjoyed it a lot

but I sort of almost felt that I was getting it because

i was terrible at everything else.

And didn't see any possible way that I could ever

get better at the things that I needed to get better at.

I was really interested in the types of things that an electrical engineer would do

or I was really interested in electronics and science and stuff like that.

But I just didn't see any channels to understand

the type of things that an electrical engineer would do

or the types of courses they would take.

So anyway, I guess after high school I went and got a music degree

And had a good time and worked as a saxophone player for a few years.

But sort of knew that I really wanted to do more, I guess.

I knew that i really wanted to...really what I wanted to do was

do electrical engineering, do more hands-on on math and science

types of things

And I guess this was around 2007, I thought that

you know ok if I wanted to go back to school,

the last thing that I remember seeing in my mathematical career in high school

was...the last thing I remembered completely not getting was trig identities

So I went to Youtube and I did a search for 'trig identities'..

and Khan Academy was the first thing that popped up..

and I watched the video on trig identity.

I thought like..oh ok I can understand this...

And then I stated looking at what else was on the channel..

and I saw like there was all this stuff about calculus,

there is all this stuff about, there is a video on chemistry and science..

And then at the same time I saw that there is also stuff about

arithmetic and there is stuff about long division

And I kind of realized..oh this is trying to be something that...

from any point I enter at, I can learn calculus.

Any point that I come in at, I can learn chemistry.

i can get as complex as I want, understand all of these

different concepts that , you know,

a year ago, a month ago before finding the channel

seemed completely inaccessible, completely intractable.

So anyway, that was in 2007,

I found the Khan Academy, I watched a bunch of videos

in the trig playlist to kind of get caught up to the speed.

I watched all the videos in calculus playlist, all the videos in physics playlist.

Watched a bunch of videos on dividing decimals and ugh even on a subtraction by borrowing

I watched a lot of videos on arithmetic.

Anyway that was in 2007, i did that until fall of 2010

And in the Fall 2010, I took a leap..

and I decided to go back to school and

get into a degree program and

I went to Temple University,

majored in Electrical Engineering getting a second bachelors

and I guess I am making this because..

I I just finished my first school year in Temple..

first school year back in school.

keep in mind I have never gotten above B+

in math classes and

I was really a straight C student growing up.

And I just finished this year back in college...

I got a 4.0 GPA for the entire year..

In addition to that I took, Calc 1, calc 2, Chemistry, Physics

Programming, Discrete math..

and in additon to that I got perfect score on both of my Calc final exams

and also on my Chemistry final exam.

And in addtion to that, I ended both calculus and chemistry

with an average higher than 100%.

This is coming from a background where

my GPA graduating from high school is somewhere in he 2.0 range.

That never would have happened.

getting a 4.0 GPA, doing that well in calculus...

never would have happened without the help that I got from Khan Academy.

And one of the big points that I think I really want to make

is that I wouldn't have been able to get the type of help

that I got from Khan Academy really anywhere else.

There are some Khan Academy videos that I probably

listened to the same concept over 20 or 30 times

and there is no tutor in the world I could have paid who

sat next to me and repeated the same thing over 20 or 30 times

without them getting a little bit judgemental..

or at least them thinking like oh this guy really is never going to get this concept

and he should just give up.

So anyway, I guess I just wanted to make this video

and, you know, say...

just I guess talk a little bit about that impact.

That the Khan Academy really has had that profound of an impact

and, you know, the type of in-depth understanding

I feel that I got from the Khan Academy and you know..

yes I went to all my classes this year and I worked really hard

but where the understanding really happened was watching those videos..

and also working through the Khan Academy software.

So, anyway, I guess I just wanted to make this video to say 'Thanks!'

'Thank you so much Sal for putting the Khan Academy togethere

and making all the videos'

It's helped me immensley..

It's helped m unbelievably over the last 3-4 years

and the impact for me in my life,

I really see it growing exponentially over the next 20-30 years.

So from the bottom of my heart...Thank You.