In this keynote, I celebrate the enduring power of community and collaboration, drawing on my own journey from MIDS graduate to PhD candidate. I remind my peers that just as a K‑Nearest Neighbors model fails when K=0, so too do we falter without the support of mentors, classmates, and collaborators—whether we’re debugging code at 2 AM or sharing insights on capstone projects. By staying connected to one another, I emphasize, we can navigate whatever uncertainties lie ahead, just as our MIDS community helped me through the chaos of COVID and beyond. I then share my “build for impact” mindset, illustrating how real‑world immersion—questioning where data comes from, shadowing clinicians, and understanding high‑stakes contexts—transforms models into tools that truly serve patients. I stress the importance of design, responsibility, fairness, and explainability, urging us all to develop AI that empowers rather than replaces human judgment. In closing, I distill my message into three guiding principles: lead with care, build with purpose, and never set K=0.