I first discovered my love for learning when I joined my highschool’s Academic Team in my freshman year. I guess I should have discovered this earlier since every other week since the day I had access to the internet I would randomly scroll through pages that ranged from discussions about space exploration to pages raving about long dead musical composers. Like most children I was overwhelmed with curiosity about everything, and though I am no longer a child, I still live to learn something new everyday. I realized this when suddenly, after joining my school’s quiz bowl or Academic Team, all of the “useless” information I have compiled in my brain became “useful”. Before high school I would always close myself off from my peers in fear of being seen as a weirdo or nerd. For the first time in my life I didn’t feel like I was totally alone. I had found a group of like minded individuals that also enjoyed divulging in copious amounts of useless information. Joining the Academic team allowed me to learn more about our vast world and the great people that shaped it. Most importantly it taught me that it’s okay to be different; because different doesn't mean alone. Learning new things about the world didn’t bring me above or below anybody. It simply allowed me to grow into a more open minded version of myself that strives towards unity. I realized that, though ignorance may seem bliss, closing off your mind only increases conflict. This is why I love learning, and I am a firm believer that we as people can and should work to learn something new everyday.