When Andrew Voelsing was eight he set his sights on MIT, dreaming of building spacecraft. He later majored in Climate System Science and Engineering while earning a Navy commission through NROTC, preparing to serve as a meteorology‑and‑oceanography officer. Both parents had naval backgrounds—his mother attended the U.S. Naval Academy and his father participated in ROTC at Notre Dame; they met while serving in Japan. Although he was accepted to the Naval Academy, Voelsing chose MIT for its breadth of faculty and activities and for the ability to commission via NROTC. He will soon serve as Battalion Commander for Greater Boston, overseeing NROTC students. The first year in aerospace engineering proved difficult; midterm grades slipped and he felt out of place. A winter‑break conversation with his father prompted him to seek the intersection of what he was good at, what fulfilled him, and what the world needed, leading him to switch to Climate System Science and Engineering (Course 1‑12). The change revived his enthusiasm and clarified how his technical training could serve a larger purpose. In ROTC he began to see how environmental knowledge could inform real‑world military decisions. A course on environmental history with atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon deepened his focus on global agriculture; his senior paper examined an agroforestry project in Uganda, a topic he hopes to pursue in graduate school. Outside the classroom he joined MIT’s Camp Kesem, a student‑run nonprofit that runs free summer camps for children of parents with cancer. Over the years he moved from counselor to operations coordinator, alumni relations, and fundraising organizer, eventually returning to counseling because he valued time with the kids most. Camp Kesem taught him to sit with grief and broadened his empathy, shaping how he connects with peers—he often sacrifices sleep for deep conversations and works to link students from different backgrounds. ROTC training and relationships with fellow midshipmen expanded his view of military service beyond family stories; he has been assigned as a meteorology‑and‑oceanography officer. Before reporting for duty he plans to attend graduate school to deepen his expertise. Balancing coursework, ROTC duties, and extracurriculars, he focuses on the task at hand, tackling it with enthusiasm. Looking back, the community of friends, not any single class, has been his greatest influence, and he hopes to keep connecting people and taking on challenges others shy away from. "Somebody’s got to do it. Why not me?" Review