Matthew: Brentwood tutor

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Growing up, I was labeled by my family as "the future rich man." By narrowing my focus to myself, I was always able to achieve my goals more efficiently. This worked plenty for me, as I had just been accepted to the best high school in the state and had a high GPA. However, this turned out to be a less-than-stellar strategy when it came to fulfillment. Oftentimes, my obsessive focus on my work led to a social battery only matched by Wednesday Addams and an emptiness that I had struggled with for a long time. While achievements like Honor Roll were nice to have, they never brought any sense of purpose.
However, in 11th grade, I got a life-changing opportunity: I would volunteer to help coach and take statistics for the local high school varsity girls' basketball team that my mom was coaching. Upon hearing about this opportunity, I was ecstatic since I could further fill my resume with an activity I had already enjoyed in previous years. My family had always been united by basketball: Whether it was my mom and family watching Lakers games or our traditional Thanksgiving three-on-three games, I had been studying the game for nearly my entire life. However, as time went on, volunteering became more than just an opportunity to engage with basketball.
Once she began coaching, I often had the privilege of hearing her rant about the team. She would come home and immediately start pacing around the living room, trying her hardest to strategize while not losing her patience. However, these tangents also came with bits and pieces of their lives, worries, and future aspirations: many of them lived in low-income households, had issues with anxiety, and had dreams to be doctors or entrepreneurs. Every time I heard one of these stories, it not only made me feel a greater connection to them and their goals, but it made me think about what I should do to help them.
Around December, I decided to set up some meetings for SAT/PSAT tutoring for the team, which would help both myselfwho needed to take it that yearand the team, who would be introduced to these topics for the first time. Throughout that meeting, the aroma of coffee and cinnamon rolls filled the local Panera, which would sometimes give us free coffee and bread. As we studied, a girl on the teamwho wanted to be an engineerasked for help on a problem with proportional triangles. I noticed the both confused and frustrated look on her faceEnglish was not her first language, so she was trying her hardest to take every word I said and translate it into her own language, while I drew diagrams of triangles on the page. This only made me more determined; I brought in every possible real-world example I had in my mind to help her understand. Finally, with a glow of satisfaction, she understood the problem and completed the next example with ease. However, this not only created a feeling of gratification for her, but also for myself, as this moment brought me fulfillment I had not felt before. Sitting in that Panera explaining Algebra 1 concepts, I realized exactly what I needed to fill the void.
When I got home, I couldn't help but have a smile on my face, because I finally knew what I was doing wrong: the obsessive focus on my own achievements was withholding the sense of contentment that comes from helping others. I realized that the unfillable void could only be filled by helping others achieve instead of achieving more for myself. Whether it is tutoring while managing my school work or doing community service before performing for the school's concert band, I knew moving forward my life had to have a balance. Ultimately, being "the future rich man" will mean being truly fulfilled.