Last week, the Mega Millions Lottery reached the highest amount in American history: a whopping $1.6 billion. The odds of winning the big jackpot were one in 302 million, and on October 23rd, one woman in South Carolina won the record-breaking prize — leaving the dreams of millions across the country crushed.

Alongside the Mega Millions, the Powerball reached its fifth highest amount in history, totaling $620 million. The biggest prize taken away from any lottery was in a 2016 Powerball that granted $1.5 billion to three lucky winners. Tuesday night’s winner, however, takes first place. The woman from South Carolina walked away with the largest prize won by a single ticket in American history.

No matter the amount of money at stake, the Powerball and Mega Millions bring out the dreamer in all of us.

“What would we do with all the money?” “Who would we share it will?” “What is the first thing we would buy?” These are just some of the questions that run through the minds of lottery players across the nation.

And thus, I posed the question to students at NASH: “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

“I would buy a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and all the Louis Vuitton bags I could fit in it.” – Jessica Long

“I’d move to Aruba and never look back.” – Emily Betler

“A matte red Tesla SUV is the first thing I would buy. After that, I’d get the heck out of here!” – Lizzy Herald

“The first thing I would do is buy my parents a trip to Italy.” – Sam McGuire

“I would buy every single dog in the world. Period.” – Emily Ferrans

“If I won the lottery, I would pay for college.” – Sam McAllister

“I would go on vacation somewhere really far away.” – Izzy Ingram

“I would probably buy stocks and invest most of the money.” – Jared Dauer

“First, I would make sure I could pay for college, and then I would buy myself a really nice car.” – Charlie Meyer

“College.” – Zach Sobien

“If I won the lottery, I would donate a lot of the money to charity — I don’t need a billion dollars all for myself.” – Jordan Latta

“I would give money to a bunch of different charities and keep the rest to pay for college.” – Sana Ahmed

“I would spoil myself with a ton of Southwest Airlines swag, spend a bunch of time at the airport, and even fly Southwest to wherever I wanted go!” – Alainna Doughtery

“First, I would buy a really nice car, and then I would have one of those really big tree houses made just for me, like in the TV shows.” – Hannah Ledrick

“Penguins Season Tickets. End quote.” – Paige Hartle

In today’s anxiety-ridden world, dreaming about winning the jackpot gives us a chance to escape to a paradise full of shiny cars, big houses, and luxurious vacations. And although only one person walked away with the grand prize last week, we will continue to dream the dream, no matter how large it may be.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby sums it all up.  As the book famously ends, “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—-  So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”