Math teachers love to say, “A right answer is a right answer, no matter the route.” However, I always disagreed. To me, math was about more than simply being right. It was about consistency, a formal deciphering of a problem. I had never truly experienced the variability in mathematics until taking AP Calculus BC. Having been called up to the vast, intimidating whiteboard, watched by all my peers, I was tasked with solving a gargantuan integral by hand. As the dry erase marker danced across the board, each step became more intricate, more complex, yet, to me, more reassuring than the last. As I finished, I smiled with the satisfaction of knowing that every step systematically led to the correct answer. One hand shot up. “Couldn’t you have just used a Riemann Integral with repeated summation to get the same answer?” Chagrined, I initially could not seem to comprehend his challenge to my method. However, after swallowing my pride, I applied his suggestion and discovered the same figure, with my work slashed in half. Following this experience, I came to value the power of intellectual challenges as part of problem solving. Open-mindedness is an essential part of learning. I now embrace constructive criticism and accept the existence of multiple and equally valid approaches. I derived these understandings from something as simple as a textbook calculus problem, yet they transformed my outlook on the process of education that generates from open-mindedness.

After a long day of preparations for the online party, I decided to check the final figure. I logged into Events.LLS, a website specifically created to allow funds to flow through me into The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Suddenly, the screen before me was filled with a massive figure. A figure amassed by donations large and small (mostly small). It was $32,580.26. Stunned, I stared in disbelief. I had helped raise an enormous amount of money to help people I had never met. A transformative sensation rushed through me: the recognition that I have the ability to change the lives of others. I first became involved with LLS as a Student of the Year Candidate. In this program, I gathered a team of eighteen students to raise funds for blood cancer and lymphoma awareness and the research needed to eradicate these cancers. I set a goal of $30,000 for our team. I led my team in raising over $32,000, of which I was able to personally fundraise over $10,000. My passion for volunteering with this non-profit remains resolute as ever through my current role as a Junior Leadership Team Member, recruiting and mentoring new Student of the Year Candidates. In working with LLS, I was able to experience first-hand the support that our cause has and the impact that we make. Remarkably, while visiting family in Maryland, I witnessed a cousin, who is battling lymphoma, receive a check from LLS. His surprise and joy was palpable. Efforts like these have a profound effect on me because they make me realize that our generation can be the last to know blood cancers and lymphomas. Through these involvements, I was given the opportunity to explore my affection for service and improving my community, which is inextricably connected to my sense of identity.