View this collection of shared Booth moments. Choose the moment that best resonates with you then tell us why.

The picture of David Booth speaking to students resonated with me because it encapsulates why I want to attend Booth. I am inspired by David’s devotion to giving back; he “walks the walk” through both his unprecedented financial gifts and his willingness to engage with students and provide insight into his career and his time at the University of Chicago.

Another man I look up to—my father—is who first inspired my passion for giving back.

My dad grew up in public housing in the poorest city in New Jersey, with no family structure at home. He credits a big part of his success in life to his local Boys and Girls Club and the relationships he formed with multiple staff members. The Club and his mentors helped him earn a scholarship to a private high school, which changed his life forever.

I struggled immensely learning how to read. It wasn’t until I began working with a private teacher in an intensive program that I caught up. By the end of fourth grade, I was an advanced reader, and the fundamental communication skills that were drilled into me continue to serve me well. This transformation changed my life forever.

My dad’s story and my own experience showed me the power of having a mentor, and are why I got involved with the Boys and Girls Club in high school and continued working with them in college. That call to service, specifically helping others less fortunate, has been deeply ingrained in me and a part of my ethos for as long as I can remember.

After college I took the first step toward the career I had planned on for years. As an investment banking analyst at XXX, I honed my financial skills through long days of hard work. However, I was never truly happy as an analyst; I knew I didn’t want to make banking my career, but it had been a great way to accelerate my business acumen.

After a year I began to assess my next move. Continuing to pursue my passion for finance, specifically on the investing side, was the most obvious choice. However, something else was weighing heavily on my mind. During my senior year of college and into my time at XXX, my dad had some serious health scares that made me take stock of things and think more carefully about how I was spending my time. I was reminded of my mom’s favorite mantra: “Be sure you’re making a life, not just a living.”

For years I had watched my dad devote time and money to repay his debt to the Boys and Girls Club—whether it be through helping the Club he attended in Camden, New Jersey, build a new facility, speaking to teens about his career path or establishing scholarships at private high schools so other Club kids could receive a life-changing education like he once did.

So when considering my options about what to do after I left investment banking, one idea stood out: taking a year to live at home and volunteer full-time at the local Boys and Girls Club where I had worked during high school. I could spend quality time with my dad while his health improved and dedicate a year of my life to a cause I believe in. And with that, I decided to focus on “making a life” and turned down a third-year offer at XXX. During my time at the XXX Boys and Girls Club, I mentored BBB, a freshman who was reading at a fifth-grade level. After months of encouragement and hard work, BBB started reading on her own at the Club. Naturally it was a ZZZ article about basketball—the only material I found that piqued her interest—but for a girl who previously recoiled at the suggestion of reading, this was a huge accomplishment. I also got to work with YYY, an undocumented junior who first came to me with one C, three Ds and an F on her report card. I quickly learned that YYY was much smarter than her grades indicated, but she lacked structure, expectations and any sort of oversight. Just by showing an interest in her progress and keeping her accountable, I helped YYY pass all of her classes; she will be enrolling in a local community college this fall. Motivating BBB and YYY, among others, to make those academic leaps was profoundly rewarding and gave me a glimpse into what it means to “make a life.”

After I finished my time at the Club, moved to Los Angeles and began my transition to investment management with a role at the Smiths Family Office, I got involved with MMM, a nonprofit that pairs low-income high schoolers with mentors to help them prepare for and enroll in college. Since becoming a member of MMM’s inaugural Los Angeles Area Young Executive Board last year, I have worked with the organization to develop corporate sponsorships, recruit mentors and plan the launch of their Los Angeles Area chapter.

This experience has been my first exposure to a leadership role within a nonprofit, and is something I will build on at Booth while helping MMM expand their Chicago chapter, which opened in 2015. At Booth I also hope to participate in the Net Impact Board Fellows program, which will give me experience serving on the board of a local nonprofit and completing a project that addresses a real-world issue. Further, I look forward to engaging with professors such as ZZZ, whose research on volunteerism—specifically volunteer retention and the behavioral science underpinning it—will provide me with invaluable insight I can leverage as a future Boys and Girls Club of America board member. Booth’s focus on making a social impact is evident through leaders such as David Booth, as well as countless alumni. While at XXX, I worked with Bob (’12) and witnessed firsthand the Booth dedication to giving back. Bob, like me, is passionate about providing high-quality education to low-income students and was very involved with ZZZ, a nonprofit with goals similar to MMM. Additionally, he spent time mentoring and teaching technical skills to younger analysts like myself, embodying the same traits as seen in the Booth Moment photo I chose. I also look to the example set by Dave (’14), who speaks at the On Board event about characteristics that make a great a board member; I look forward to attending his talk while at Chicago. Like David Booth, Dave has spent his career in finance but remained committed to giving back, specifically to the education sector by co-founding YYY to help low-income community-college students secure employment. The photo of David Booth resonated with me because it shows the best of the qualities that Booth promotes amongst its students: a commitment to giving back to the community and helping others succeed. It also acts as a reminder of what I hope to accomplish: to follow in the same steps as David Booth, Bob, and Dave, all of whom have achieved a great deal of success in their finance careers, but remained unwaveringly committed to advancing the cause of education and promoting the well-being of the underserved.