India, June 21 -- We often step into a student's story only to be unexpectedly drawn to another's, especially when that 'other' is a towering figure like a parent. This is what happened with Vidit Goel. Vidit had recently moved from India to Gabon, a quiet land dense with forests and richer still in solitude. His father was in the timber business, building a life from scratch. As we sat across from each other for his university essay process, I found myself circling back, not to Vidit's achievements, but to the life of his father. There was something magnetic in the narrative: a man navigating unfamiliar soil, setting up a livelihood from wood and will, and taking his family along on that unpredictable ride. Each time we tried to spotlight ...