“As a senior, I will miss how much of an impact I think I’ve had on the community. Not that I won’t be able to, but I think once I go off to college, I won’t be able to come in every day to the Idea Center and help kids start their own business, or design things or teach them how to use a machine or hold a class. Leaving the Idea Center, I’ll know that I’ve made a really large impact and I’ve changed lives, and that the kids are really grateful for what I’ve done to help.

If you’re looking for, like, some big name like Bill Gates or Elon Musk, it’s not one of them who inspired me. It was 6th grade. Anything prior to 6th grade, my mentality was like, I hate school. I don’t want to be in school. I wanted to be one of the rebel kids at school like in the movies, you know, that doesn’t do their homework, that is failing, but is also somehow, super succeeding in life. But once I went through 6th grade and I went through Mr. Wulff’s class in middle school, my whole viewpoint on learning changed, and I was like, I’m going to be the smartest. I can learn to my fullest potential, and nothing’s going to stop me. I took the math acceleration test and I didn’t pass the first time, but that mentality that Mr. Wulff instilled in me was still there. And I was like, okay, I’m going to pass the next time. And I did, and I had the drive. And that drive has still been in me, not just through school, but through all the other connections I make throughout this world.”