Success has had various meanings for me. Yet, it wasn’t until the pandemic that I landed on the most resonant ones: feeling fulfilled and content. After graduating from Barnard College, I stepped onto a career path in marketing and communications. I knew this field might not be my ultimate destination, but the start of a journey to find my true calling. With parents in public relations and an academic focus in English and psychology, it felt familiar and safe. My tenacity to take on new challenges and personal drive bolstered my confidence that I had all I needed to succeed. However, it didn’t take long to surface a subconscious moral quandary that had been brewing within me for my 20 plus years. In my hometown, homogeneity and a competitive drive to always achieve more were ingrained in the collective consciousness of children from a very young age. My K-12 academic years were spent striving to take the most challenging classes. Once I accomplished college acceptance, the dangling carrot became the pursuit of esteemed internships. Then, the final step was to secure a job at a well-established company, retire my student loans, become financially independent and set a course on a triumphant career trajectory. My first job in global marketing didn’t provide the satisfaction I desired or subscribed to my true values. It just played into living up to an ideal that others prescribed. A standard driven by pursuit of job prestige, earnings, and status in comparison with others. That’s not me. It’s little wonder my favorite quote from Maya Angelou resonates so deeply within me: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If I could positively impact the way a child feels about themselves, and how they interact with the world, that would be my greatest reward. It would lay the foundation for a “career,” not just a job. My desire to become a teacher didn’t just materialize. I started working as a volunteer camp counselor at 13. While the tumult of adolescence left me feeling insecure in daily life, the second I arrived at the camp room each day, I felt most like myself. Nothing made me happier than to make a child smile, teach them new skills or model inclusivity to help ‘build’ kinder people. Subsequent years as a camp counselor led to a successful babysitting career, volunteering at a speech pathology and behavioral center, and mentoring students through my freshman year at college. The pandemic changed lives in so many ways. For me, it permitted a chance to pause and reevaluate what made me happiest in life and how this could be woven into my career journey. Acquiring my master’s degree in education and a career as a teacher will not only enrich my professional life, but bring me deep personal satisfaction, as well. It is an opportunity to reach my full potential. Looking back, I realize I’ve walked on many steppingstones that led me to this choice. From my family, and many great teachers who have guided me over the years, I’ve admired their compassion, knowledge, insight, and personal investment in others. This shaped me into the person I am and influenced my desire to emulate them and “pay it forward.” To help children become open-minded, well-rounded, educated, and decent human beings energizes me with hope. It also perfectly encapsulates my new definition of success. I can’t imagine a way I’d love to leave my mark on the world better than to do this work every day.