Colleen drove me to a university open house where I stood in a laboratory and watched students study air and water quality.

“This is what I want,” I told her afterward.

“Then let’s find out what it takes.”

We filled out scholarship applications at her kitchen table.

Some asked me to describe adversity.

I hated those prompts.

I didn’t want the worst night of my life to become the only story I was allowed to tell about myself.

So I wrote about wanting to make systems safer, about how listening early can prevent harm, and about the science fair project that taught me how much details matter.