Who is… Maxwell Bogan?
As a child, I could not stop moving. Whether I was in a restaurant, at home, at someone else’s house, I always needed to be doing something. As I grew, my constant energy and urge to be doing something piqued my curiosity. Curiosity in what to do, how doing specific things are right or wrong, beneficial or unhelpful. Why when I kicked a soccer ball it curved, when I put a wire to a lightbulb it turns on. All these questions, making me search for answers. Ultimately coming to the biggest question that everyone probably thinks at least once in their life: Why? Why do we even think about these things? Why do I care so much about these topics? What is the meaning of MY life? Have I found the answer? Of course not! I don’t think I ever will. But, by constantly being curious and learning, I can get closer and closer to the answer and gain a higher understanding of the question “Why?”.
Being the son of a professional musician and relative to many others, music has been a major component in my life. It created a safe space for me at a very young age being both my outlet and way to escape. My father also had a large influence on my decision to play around 6 sports growing up, ultimately playing tennis the longest up until my final 2 years of High School in which we won states in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 season. At the time, these 2 factors were larger than almost everything; I didn’t have much interest in school at the time yet still maintained above average grades. Growing into High School though, I saw others around me put their full effort into these passions, people getting much better at sports than me or being much more talented at music than me. So instead of basking in sorrow, I decided to continue my research.
Throughout High School, I explored many different jobs and paths that I could take in the future, some being more beneficial than others, but ultimately all helping my comprehension of what I wanna do. In 8th grade I was the president of the Best Buddies club, a club created by a Non-Profit company Best Buddies which works with kids with developmental disabilities and creates spaces and friendships that are comfortable and reassuring. Into High School, I attended many TED Ed Weekend events in which youth are invited to TED Headquarters in NYC and are able to give TED Talks and participate in group activities, and I was selected as the winner of the TED Ed Weekend student leadership award. I also worked as a paid intern under the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Pennsylvania using Python coding language to render images of star constellations, adding them to the Dark Energy Survey (DES).
Even after being given these amazing opportunities, I still felt as though something was missing. Throughout these High School years before College, I was a very unmotivated and half-trying student. I wouldn’t put my all really into anything, and doing work seemed like a nuisance. So, I decided to take a big step in my life and continue my research. After 12th grade, I moved to Haifa, Israel for a year to do a year of Service at the Bahá’í World Centre. I am a Bahá’í, born into a Bahá’í family and believing in the Bahá’í faith, and doing a year of service is something that I have always wanted to do. Going away for a year, living by myself, and devoting myself to the service of others completely changed my perspective on life and, though it didn’t answer why, it gave me motivation for my life of serving others.
The Seat of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel
Currently, I am a Bio student interested in taking a path in Dentistry. Though it is very different from anything I have previously mentioned, after taking time to research and find my interests, Dentistry always came back to me. Though it may sound silly, I have always had straight teeth, and growing up I was very proud of it. I would go to my dentist, who at the time was the funniest person and also someone I looked up to greatly, and every time I would go, I would be complimented on them. I want to be that person. I want to be someone that people look forward to seeing and talking to. That doesn’t mean that I won’t continue doing the things I love though! Music will never leave me and will always be my safe space; sports will also always stay with me and I will continue finding things that I love doing. The only thing that is different is that now I can sit through a whole meal without running around everywhere.
