有志者，事竟成. In English, this phrase translates to "when there is a will, there is a way." While reading the classic Chinese idiom of the old man who pushed two mountains to save his village, this particular quote stood out to me. Perhaps it was my interest in the complexities of the Mandarin language, or my passion for pursuing the perfect answer to the most complex data-driven questions. Or perhaps it was something much greater and more intimate to my own personal life story: the challenges I have faced and ultimately conquered that transformed me into the passionate business professional I am today.In my life I have faced several of the same kinds of mountains that the old man in the story has. When put to the task to lead an organization of fifteen highly-educated and success-driven individuals within the National Chinese Honor Society, I boldly stood up to the task.When my teacher had, unbeknownst to my knowledge, signed me up for the highly competitive Midwest Chinese Teachers Alliance Chinese Speech Competition in Chicago, I did not back down. Rather, I gladly embraced the challenge to represent my school and ended up winning first place. When, at the beginning of my academic journey at Indiana University, I had been told to raise five-hundred dollars for the children at the Riley Children's Hospital on behalf of the IU Dance Marathon, I stepped up within the organization and raised eight-hundred and eighty-seven dollars, over three-hundred dollars above what was expected of me.Like that old man in the idiom story, I saw the barriers ahead of me, trained to overcome them, and kept pushing even after I had attained my goal. Because I told myself this simple phrase: 有志者，事竟成.
