I have always enjoyed school. I look forward to learning something new every time that I walk into a classroom. I can accredit this enthusiasm to a few important people who recognized a curiosity and turned it into a passion.

As a small child, my parents emphasized the importance of reading. Listening to them read "Little House on the Prairie" was a normal night. Reading was routine, but it wasn’t a chore. I didn’t have to pick up a book; I wanted to.

I cared about these characters and the worlds that they inhabited. It wasn’t long before I started to find books on my own. By the time I was in second grade, I could be found hiding in the bathroom late at night trying to get a few more chapters in before I fell asleep.

By third grade, I was devouring novels. I was reading a few books a week and my teachers took notice.

I recall our elementary school librarian, Mrs. Gilbert, visiting my classroom one day. She noticed me reading the Great Illustrated Classics version of “A Tale of Two Cities” and sauntered over to my desk. She told me about a new team that she was starting called Reading Bowl. She said that I would be a great fit.

My life was forever changed when I made the Reading Bowl team the following year. The nine other students on the team and I read 20 books each and then attempted memorize every detail we could fit into our eager brains. Later, we would go to competitions against other schools where we would be quizzed on characters and events that took place within the assigned readings.

Nerdiest thing you've ever heard? I know; but I loved it. Nothing was more exciting to me than me or a teammate getting a question right. I loved being surrounded by other people who were excited to learn about the world. We encouraged and challenged each other to be better and to work harder.

It just so happened that I was going through puberty, and felt very unsure of myself in every way possible. I didn't know who I was. I didn't like the way I looked. I felt awkward in almost every situation I encountered.

Luckily, my team, coaches, and teachers were my constant. I derived my confidence from my success as an academic. My certainty in what I knew carried over into what I had to say. Even as a kid, I was never intimidated by conversations with adults because I felt that I could keep pace. Reading Bowl had made me sure in my own intelligence, something that I did not recognize as a gift until recently.

I participated in Reading Bowl through middle school and then joined the Academic Bowl team in high school. It was exhilarating to be surrounded by other people who shared similar values me. We were curious. We wanted to know anything and everything that we could and we sure tried.

I've played sports my whole life but Academic and Reading Bowl were the only teams where I was an integral part of the team's success. These teams made me an effective leader and team player. I cannot overstate how important this has been in all areas of my life since.

School and my academic team fed into one another. History classes felt relevant and science classes felt necessary. School was not just about grades; it was about absorbing information and applying it to my life. Movies, books, songs, anything is something that I can learn from.

I feel that this attitude has carried over even as a college student. I enjoy my classes and my teachers, but mostly, I am eager to look at the world through different lenses.

I owe so much of my personality, goals, and outlook on the world to the people who made up these teams and the experiences we shared. Participating in these teams has made me more connected to the world in which I live. I am a better student, friend, and person for it.