When my grandmother first forgot who I was, I did not know what to do.
I remember standing there, waiting for her to recognize me again. Part of me thought maybe she was joking or that I had misunderstood her. But she looked genuinely confused. In that moment, Alzheimer’s stopped being just a disease I had heard about. It became something real, something that could slowly take away pieces of a person I loved and make her feel distant.
At first, I just wanted to understand what was happening inside her brain. Why does memory disappear? Why do familiar faces become unfamiliar? Why can someone remember something from years ago but forget what happened a few minutes earlier? I did not know the answers, but I knew I wanted to learn.
As time passed, my questions changed. I did not only want to understand disease. I wanted to help build solutions for people living with it. That is why I want to study biomedical engineering. To me, biomedical engineering is where science becomes something that can actually help someone: a treatment, a device, a tool, or a piece of technology that gives a patient more comfort, independence, or time.
Watching my grandmother struggle with Alzheimer’s showed me how much disease can take away. It can take away one’s memory, independence, and identity. Some people were patient with her. Others talked over her or rushed her when she repeated herself. I saw how easily illness could make someone feel small. I do not want to enter STEM just to study diseases from a distance. I want to help create things that make life better for the people living through them.
I saw this need more clearly while volunteering with rehabilitation and memory care residents at a senior center. I learned that care often happens in small moments. It is asking where someone wants to go before pushing their wheelchair. It is waiting for an answer instead of assuming. It is moving at their pace without making them feel like they are slowing you down. Those moments taught me something important about design: the best solutions should give people more control, not take it away.
I also saw this while scribing and translating at community clinics. Some Mandarin-speaking patients knew what they were feeling, but they did not always know how to explain it in English. I helped them describe their symptoms to the doctor, ask questions, and understand the next steps in their care. I remember how relieved some patients looked when they realized they were being understood. That stayed with me because even the best treatment cannot help fully if a patient cannot access it, understand it, or trust it.
As a young woman pursuing STEM, I know how important it is to have educators and mentors who believe that girls belong in scientific spaces. Julie Adams devoted her life to teaching math and encouraging students, especially young women, to show them that they belonged in STEM. Her legacy is meaningful to me because I know that representation and encouragement can change the way a student sees herself. When young women are supported in STEM, they do not just gain access to careers. They gain the confidence to ask questions, solve problems, and imagine themselves as part of the future of science.
I am passionate about biomedical engineering because it gives me a way to turn helplessness into action. I could not stop my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s, and I could not give her memory back. But I can learn. I can study the brain, medicine, and engineering. I can work toward treatments and technologies that help future patients feel empowered instead of powerless.
My goal is to design solutions that are advanced, but still human-centered. I want to help create treatments and medical technologies that protect dignity, improve access to care, and give patients more control when illness takes so much away. Biomedical engineering is the path that lets me combine my love for science with my desire to serve people. It gives me a way to turn helplessness into action, and that is why I know it is the right path for me.
Growing up I have always had a fascination with all things science.I always had endless questions about why or how something came to be. It was because of my endless curiosity that I knew I wanted to pursue college. A place where I could choose what to learn sounded like a dream to me.
It wasn't until I met my 7th grade teacher that I knew for sure that I wanted to pursue science even if it wasn't as well paying as something in medical. She often went out of her way to help me conduct small experiments to help answer my many questions about the world. I was and still am forever grateful that she encouraged my love for science so much. Still at that point in time I really wanted to be able to support my mama with the career I chose. For the most part I dithered between doing something I know I would like and doing something that I knew would pay well and would help other people.
It wasn't until my mama passed and I had to move in with my sister that I made up my mind. Jared was my sister's roommate who helped take care of my younger sister and I after our mama passed. Losing my mama just before I turned 16 was extremely hard for me. I had lost so much of my passion and love for science that I used to have. I felt like I owed Jared and my sister a debt for taking my sister and I when they were already swamped with their own financial situation. At that point I was considering dropping science in order to pursue a more financially beneficial career. I had confused in Jared about my indecision and in try he told me his story of finding both something he was passionate about and good at after a lot if trial and error. Now he is doing something he loves and he encouraged me to do the same.
At the same time I was taking a forensic science and investigation class and after I quickly became enamored. It was still hard but I no longer felt guilty for having moments of happiness in my time of mourning. Forensics was a neet combination of all my interests. It involves helping people, biology, and chemistry and quickly become my favorite class. I was excited that I had found my niche just like Jared had. I knew then that forensic scientist was what I wanted to be and biology was the major I needed to pursue it.
After I had found my determination my oldest sister encouraged my ambition. We often joke about the big house I will buy her when I make more money than her. She even goes out of her way to detail some of her experiences with deciding her major and career when she started college. She was another inspiration I needed to firmly decide on the career I want to have.
Now my interest, passion, and ability are better than ever and I know studying biology is what I am ment to do.
