Gen Z Voices: A failed test critical for a chance at MIT sent Sam Law into a spiral. Then he turned failure into success.

Legacy High School senior Sam Law had everything in order. He was in advanced classes, with the goal of going to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He knew precisely what scores to get on tests to get there. 

He was on a roll until he wasn’t.

One failed test sent him into a spiral and shook him to his core. 

“I didn’t have to try in school whatsoever,” said Law, who was labeled a gifted and talented kid. “I didn’t take notes, I didn’t care when tests were because I would do well on them anyways. So when I first came into that stumbling block of calculus, when something was challenging for the first time, I didn’t know how to deal with it at all.”

In 2022, Law gave a TEDxYouth at Cherry Creek talk about his journey through failure, recovery, and a reset of his life goals. He is one of a number of Colorado Front Range Gen Z students CPR News spoke to about their own TEDxYouth talks. They range from the importance of mental health, to why pronouns matter, and how important education funding is for indigenous youth and teens of color.

The next TEDxYouth at Cherry Creek event will take place March 4.

Explore other Colorado Front Range Gen Z voices:

• Ella Winthers wants her peers to remember to take care of themselves while saving the world
• Discussing gender is like thinking about clothes, says Ruby George, it’s about what you feel comfortable in
• How Cadence Fong’s search for her ikigai allowed her to embrace the ‘I don’t know’
• Maya Dawson says mental health needs to be brought into school curriculum