Through months of planning and preparation, with support from his family, he mapped out a route from Colorado to his grandparents’ house in Washington, D.C. A social media novice, he set up an Instagram account called “thegreenestwaytobrown” to document his trip, got equipment and a satellite-enabled device so he could reach loved ones, joined a reciprocal hospitality community for cyclists, and set off in mid-July. To shorten the journey and bypass the formidable Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, his father drove him from California to Colorado to begin his ride there.

“One of the things that stands out to me the most about the trip was the duality of the experience and how that reflects America,” Lam said. “I met some other people who were also touring to have an adventure, and I met people who were touring because they didn’t have enough money for housing.”

Through emotional and physical highs and lows, Lam made connections and learned about different perspectives and experiences.

“It’s one thing to learn about farm subsidies and read about economic factors that impact the Midwest and the Rust Belt and the Bible Belt, and it’s another thing to meet the people who can talk to you about their lives and their farm’s economy,” Lam said. “It was very humanizing as a trip, and it filled in the color and the lines of a lot of these things in my life — like, you just buy corn in the supermarket and move on with your life, but now I know how the corn grows, and also how it affects the people who grow it.”

He was also awestruck by the landscape and the distance between communities.

“The High Plains don’t have any trees, just these huge, rolling yellow fields,” Lam said. “By the time I reached Virginia, it felt tropical — just full of vines and trees and green.”

Because the Eastern Seaboard roadways are denser and more congested, his concluded his bike trip at his grandparents’ house in the nation’s capital in late August. There, he recuperated and reconnected with his mother, brother and sister, who drove him to Providence in early September and helped him move into his residence hall at Brown.

Lam said the curiosity that propelled him to undertake his ambitious bicycle journey also fueled his interest in enrolling at Brown, where he plans to explore courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) — and beyond.

“I’ve always been someone who enjoys STEM, but I’ve also been curious about things decidedly not STEM,” Lam said. “Brown gives you the opportunity to explore many things in a way that’s fundamental to your education.”

As he began the new academic year, he reflected on a conversation with his grandmother after he finished his bicycle trip.

“When I finished the trip, she asked, ‘What were you trying to prove?’” Lam recalled. “I wasn’t trying to prove anything, but I realized I did actually prove a lot to myself about my abilities to make things work. But it also made me very intimately aware of who I lean on for support and how important that is.”