If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year, it’s this: determination changes everything.

I still remember what 11th grade felt like. The exhaustion, the burnout, the quiet frustration of feeling like I was running a race without knowing where the finish line was. I was doing well academically, sure, but something felt missing. Direction. Drive. That deeper why behind all the effort.

Then, something clicked.

As 11th grade ended, I found clarity. I wanted to aim high. Really high. I wanted to study at an Ivy League school. Not for the name, but for the kind of growth and challenge I knew I was capable of if given the right environment. And once that vision locked in, grit took over.

Suddenly, I wasn’t just studying, I was pursuing. I began waking up at 6 a.m. every day, carving out three quiet hours to study before heading off to my internship at 10. And on days when my to-do list wasn’t fully conquered, I kept going into the night, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. The work felt different. Purposeful.

The truth is, the thought of attending a university where ideas come alive and learning never stops gives me this strange, electrifying adrenaline rush. And it’s that feeling, not pressure but passion, that keeps me moving forward.

In the last few months, I’ve poured myself into online courses, built and refined my educational platform EduBuddy, and found unexpected joy in solving math problems that once felt like chores. Learning programming has been a milestone in itself, an adventure filled with challenges, breakthroughs, and that magical moment when lines of code finally come to life.

I’m still on this journey, and I know the road ahead is long. But now, I have my compass. And it’s pointed firmly in the direction of growth, curiosity, and unwavering determination.