The author helps some kids make personal connections to what can seem irrelevant within the confines of classroom and curriculum. Interestingly, though, the most meaningful connections she has made with students have come not through quirky English teaching, but through her extracurricular interloping into the realm of social studies. The most intense and satisfying writing she assigns has evolved out of a 15-year interaction with one of this country's richest academic competitions, National History Day (NHD). One student's History Day research project proved so powerful, it resulted in her leading the author to a new extracurricular program called PeaceJam that links students (and the author!) with Nobel Peace Prize winners and inspires them to become agents of social change. The writing and research skills her History Day and PeaceJam students develop have changed their lives. Both programs create opportunities for authentic learning that have improved the author's teaching both in the classroom and outside the curriculum. Teachers who open their classrooms and curricula to meaningful competitions and organizations, whether local, national, or international, can inspire great learning.