Amanda Wolf spent an entire semester cold-calling faculty members across Purdue, pitching what must have sounded like an absurd idea: Could a team of undergraduate peer learners work in a biological lab together, receiving regular genetic engineering mentorship despite having no formal training? The conversational dead-ends piled up. Faculty after faculty said no. But Wolf had a strategy. She turned every rejection into opportunity by asking for referrals. "I asked all around Purdue, using the research connections of my peers and friends," she recalls. "While naturally there were a lot of no's, I was able to turn every no into more possible connections just by asking for referrals."