During that first year in graduate school, I was very close to quitting. I almost went back to Venezuela. But I didn’t. Partly, I was too embarrassed to quit. After all, one of my older brothers had already come to America and earned a PhD. But I also knew that the only path I had to a better life was to make myself stronger and better — to get all the education that I could. And when you’re an immigrant, and you feel like giving up, it is that drive that gives you the power to struggle, and struggle and struggle — until you succeed. You don’t have to be an immigrant to have that kind of drive — but that unstoppable energy is the essential story of America.