In this article, the author, a ninth grade teacher at a Title I high school, describes how she began her algebra classes with an open-ended research project, entitled Why Math? This project offered opportunities for students to reflect on why mathematics is important and to determine its relevance to them as individuals, that is, why "they" should be learning mathematics. In completing the project, she realized that by sharing authority from the beginning of the school year, she was demonstrating to students that their thoughts, voices, and ideas matter in her classroom. Specifically, their authentic engagement in learning mathematics matters. She concludes that the project built relationships within the classroom, expanded her students' ideas about mathematics, and began to redefine students' mathematical identity while strengthening their relationship with and understanding of mathematics.