I have a love-hate relationship with the word opportunity. Opportunities themselves are chances for one to use their potential. On the other hand, hearing the word opportunity reminds me that opportunities aren’t given to all equally and fairly. Thus, I admire how extracurricular activities can create opportunities for people in my community and in my school. I’ve taken many volunteering opportunities, but the most impactful has been choosing to volunteer with the Link Generations organization. What started as signing up to volunteer one time with older adults at a senior living center over Zoom, turned into taking every new opportunity to visit the seniors in person. I had the honor of learning from uniquely decorated stories of different older adults, and forming true connections with people I otherwise would not have had the chance to meet. I knew not everyone had an opportunity to build such bonds, including people at my school. Thus, working with the executive director of Link Generations and a new senior living home in our community, I founded a branch of Link Generations at my school to allow other students to also have the opportunities I had. I organized volunteering sessions where students from my school and the senior adults could engage in connecting conversations and activities. My work in organizing volunteering sessions would pay off most when my friends would thank me for the opportunity to volunteer with older adults, given that there was no such opportunity at the school before. AP United States Government and Politics is the first AP class and exam for most students at my school. Having as many opportunities as possible to succeed in this course is thus very important. However, there were almost no opportunities for freshmen students to learn from older students who had already taken the course. In my sophomore year, after I had taken the AP US Government class and exam myself, I helped co-found the Government AP Preparation Club to ensure that every freshman student had that one more opportunity to succeed on the exam. As co-president, I would help the leadership team survey the freshmen students and develop slides and lectures to review key topics and examples before the exam. With each lunch meeting, the students expressed that they felt more confident they could do well. The following year, students would thank me for the opportunities that the club provided, which helped them earn a 5 on their very first AP exam; with this, I knew that the club would continue to run the following years. Opportunities to build mental health are ones that are often scarce. As vice president of my school's Sources of Strength club, I collaborate with the other leadership officers in order to ensure that opportunities for developing mental health resilience are not only available for students, but that students feel comfortable engaging. Whether it is by holding the annual Sources of Strength Peer Leadership Training, or the lunch meetings built to encourage group conversations and wellness activities, our goal is to allow students the opportunity to be aware of how they can receive mental health help. In order to expand this reach, we often work with other similar clubs at our school, to ensure that our helping hand can reach as many students as possible. The opportunities I have been able to create for others are a result of the opportunities I had myself. The reality is that not every person has such chances, thus I hope to continue being involved with extracurricular activities which can create positive opportunities for people in my community.