StatusGator Women in Tech Scholarship

Funded by

Nimble Industries, Inc.

Eligibility Requirements

Field of Study:

Tech

Education Level:

High school senior

Gender:

Female-identifying

Field of Study:

Education Level:

Gender:

Tech

High school senior

Female-identifying

StatusGator believes increasing gender diversity in technology is essential to building a more inclusive and innovative future.

Women and girls bring vital perspectives to the world of technology, yet they’re often underrepresented and underserved in computer science and other tech-related fields. From an early age, gender imbalances in classrooms and clubs can create barriers to entry and belonging, leading to a persistent gap in STEM. This scholarship aims to help close that gap by supporting and encouraging the next generation of women in tech.

Any female-identifying high school senior who is pursuing technology may apply for this scholarship opportunity.

To apply, tell us what sparked your interest in technology, how that experience has affected your goals, what impact you hope to make through your career, what challenges you have faced, and what excites you about the future of the field.

Selection Criteria:

Ambition, Drive, Impact

Scholarships for High School Seniors Scholarships for Women Computer Science Scholarships Scholarships for Women in STEM Scholarships for Minorities High School Scholarships Essay Scholarships STEM Scholarships Tech Scholarships Graduate Scholarships for Women

Published March 27, 2026

Essay Topic

Tell us about a moment or experience that sparked your interest in technology. How has that experience shaped your goals, and what impact do you hope to make through your future career in tech? What challenges have you faced so far, and what excites you most about the future of the field?

400–600 words

Apply Now

Winners and Finalists

August 2025

Winners

Lara Djukic

Columbia University in the City of New York

Las Vegas, NV

Finalists

Lothlorien Fey Maglalang

Spring-ford High School

Royersford, PA

Samantha Hand

Rochester Institute of Technology

Carlisle, PA

Ashley Pu Calderon

Assabet Valley Vocational High School

Marlborough, MA

Winning Application

Lara Djukic

Columbia University in the City of New YorkLas Vegas, NV

A short walk from my grandmother’s house in Bosnia sits a bright red warning sign reading “Zabranjeno Prolaz. Mine!” (Do Not Enter. Land Mines!). A weapon engineered for mass destruction that continues to hold back my community even thirty years after the war. This contamination is a barrier to socio-economic development for many Bosnians, leading to the country being one of the poorest in Europe. With many mines still undetected and causing casualties annually, the question I am to answer is: How do I stop this? During a CS Club meeting my sophomore year, I was introduced to a new concept – Machine Learning. We can teach computers to recognize patterns and adapt without explicitly being programmed, essentially teaching computers to learn just like humans. This is the solution that I was looking for. I want to use AI and machine learning for landmine detection in Bosnia. By training machine learning models to detect patterns in soil composition and terrain maps, these systems can be used to accelerate landmine detection. I want to pursue a Bachelor's and Master's in computer science to build an understanding of AI and Machine Learning to use to help my community, especially in my parents’ home country of Bosnia, where war remnants plague the local communities. My main goal is to become an AI Engineer and establish a company based in Bosnia that focuses on using AI, Machine Learning, robotics, and technology to help local communities contaminated by the landmine crisis. Hearing the horror stories from my parents and grandparents of locals accidentally stepping on landmines while doing everyday tasks like picking fruit, I realized that this is a problem that I wanted to dedicate my education to solving. I dream of developing advanced AI technologies to pinpoint the locations of landmines and leftover explosives in Bosnia while making this information accessible to citizens through public websites. I want to program robots to disarm the mines instead of sending Bosnian bomb technicians who suffer casualties annually. In my English 102 class, I’m currently writing a research paper on how AI and Machine Learning can be used to solve the landmine crisis in Bosnia. In college, I hope to dive deeper into this research and start creating prototypes of these systems. I dream of walking back to the forest near my grandma’s house without seeing any bright red warning signs again. AI is the future, and I want to use it to help people.