November was my busiest month so far in this program. It was also somehow when I managed to do most of my volunteering. I first volunteered at an event called Iron Chef. I got paired with a local chef and seven 8 th grade students as we were pitted against 8 other teams to make the best meal. Our chef was the defending champion, so we were confident going into it. That was until they revealed the secret ingredient, papaya. The kids were still excited to get cooking despite the unanimous disdain for papaya. We didn’t win that day but making the seven layer dip with the students was well worth the hours spent. I was genuinely amazed at how good the students were at cooking. The second place I volunteered was at a private event to support Cystic Fibrosis. I got to hang out with my BFFL Steve and serve baby Lima Beans to the crowd. Apart from volunteering, I have stuck with studying for the MCAT with the crew and working in lab which is also picking up.