It was easier to be the headstrong monk, a boy on a long-shot mission, before he actually won anything. With the prize in hand, he realized his single-minded drive came across as aloof cockiness; his painful martyrdom certainly looked like self-nomination for sainthood. He's not sure if he can keep up this exhausting, aw-shucks façade for much longer.

A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League