Pressing the Right Buttons
Follow Your Passion and the Odds Will Always Be In Your Favor
By Robert Huff & John Hill
Passion > Odds
“In front of you are two buttons. Button A guarantees a completely average, normal life. Button B involves a risk - a 95% chance you will be a complete failure, but a 5% chance your life will be extraordinary. Which button do you press?” The question was posed by Heritage Academy Maricopa scholar Robert Huff and answered by our guest speaker without hesitation: “You press button B . . . EVERY time.”
The guest speaker was Yuma Samie, known for her million-plus viewed YouTube videos produced by Crash Course on English composition. Her confident answer to press the button with a 5% chance of big success was not based on weighing odds. It is based on a principle she believes in: you’ll find that 5% chance of success every time if you follow your passion.
Can Success Be That Simple?
Yumna is living proof of the power of passion. She defied the odds in graduating on time with 2 degrees while working 2 jobs. She defied the odds in giving a Ted Talk at 19 years old. And she defied the odds in even visiting Heritage Academy. But she had a passion to do each of these things and that passion led to results. “The odds of her coming all the way to Maricopa were astronomically low,” said her host, English teacher John Hill, “but her passion for connecting with others who value her work (that’s us!) made it happen.”
Yumna toured our school with Mr. Hill and visited each of his A Day classes. She gave a talk to each class and then opened things up for Q&A. “I think the most inspiring part of her being here was that scholars saw possibilities for themselves through her,” said Mr. Hill. “The type of success she has had in life is there for anyone who does what she advises in finding and following their passion.”
Yuma was happy to share her story, give lots of advice, and answer everyone’s questions. “Having the opportunity to meet the academic legend was an absolute delight. She shared her story with us and offered advice to help us develop as writers and scholars,” said Huff. Junior Avory Oosthuizen, in describing Yumna’s helpful advice on the writing process, added, “Yumna answered our research project questions and gave great input! It was awesome seeing the girl in our Crash Course videos in person.”
Passion Not Pressure
In giving advice on what to do (follow your passion), Yumna also gave clear advice on what not to do: do not follow the desires of what others want you to be. That’s not passion that’s pressure. For Yumna, a big part of finding the path to success through passion is finding out what YOU want to do and who YOU want to be. And where that path leads might not be clear from the outset. She cautioned: “Sometimes passions do not always seem to fit together, but ultimately do. I love making videos, and I love public speaking.” Both ended up leading to an exciting career for her. “Doors will open - sometimes to unexpected opportunities, as it did for me with Crash Course.”
Passion followed. Success achieved.
Yumna believes that following your passion will always lead to opportunities. Far from being intimidated by the hypothetically low odds of button B and the 5% chance of success, Yumna claims you have already beaten the odds just by being born and making it into your teen years as the unique one in a billion person you are. “There is an infinitesimally small chance that you would be born. And the odds are even smaller that you would turn out to be exactly who you are. Be who you are. Follow your passion.”
Follow your passion. If you do, the odds are actually in your favor. You just have to go for it!
Above clockwise from top left: Class 2A locked on every word; John Hill with Yumna;
Abigail Panter and Yumna; Class 3A sharing their research paper questions with Yumna.
Author: Robert Huff is a senior at Heritage Academy Maricopa. His passion is dreaming and doodling - sometimes dreaming while doodling. He is currently in Mr. Hill’s dual enrollment English class conducting college-level research on the limits of artificial intelligence in displaying creativity.
Author: John Hill is a dual enrollment English teacher at Heritage Academy Maricopa. He has a passion for his students, and he followed that passion in getting Yumna Samie to Maricopa.
Not sure what the odds were that he’d get Samie to visit our humble school, but passion > odds.
Guest: Yumna Samie is currently a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst where she continues to dream big and follow her passion - not surprisingly, an advanced degree in educational technology.
