Stephen LeCornu Routh Memorial Scholarship

When I was a kid, my parents always argued about what I was destined to do with my life: my dad told me I was made for engineering, while my mom told me I was born to go into the medical field. Growing up, I spent my childhood working on cars and machinery with my dad, admiring how much he enjoyed working with me. People would drive by us looking at me funny because a seven-year-old girl was outside working on cars and learning about them instead of being inside playing with her barbie dolls. I have known I was made for the engineering field since I was five. I am currently a freshman in college, seeking aid for my sophomore year. I have lived in a small town in Tennessee for almost 11 years. Growing up, and currently, I enjoyed everything that involved math and science. I attended many quiz bowls and competed in the state of Tennessee's Beta Convention for math and science, as well. In high school, I also competed in the All-State Honor Choir, All-Northwest Honor Choir, Solo and Ensemble, and Quad-State. I also enjoyed volunteering at events in my town. I volunteered at my local humane society, "Feed the Need" operations, and was openly involved in the daycare that my church provided. When it came time for me to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I considered many factors: my love for helping people and the love I have for math and science. With these things considered, I knew that I would go into the engineering field. To please both my mom and dad, I thought, what better than to put both of their desires into my career choice? This is why I decided to go into biomedical engineering with a focus on designing prosthetic limbs. My goal with this degree is to eventually be able to work with lower-income families who are unable to purchase the costly prosthetics that are sold today. Right now, prosthetics are one of the most expensive entities in the healthcare system, and in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, most families are unable to purchase the prosthetic limbs that their loved ones require in order to live a functional life. I hope to be able to change this with my future work by providing a more cost-efficient limb for families that need these limb replacements.