I would like to thank you for this opportunity. My name is Alvina, and I am an undocumented immigrant. I am currently studying Biotechnology and General Engineering at my local community college. I wish to go into Biomedical engineering with a focus on Biomechanics. I spend my free time applying classroom knowledge to personal research and enrichment projects and volunteering. My goal in life is to inspire young girls and boys, of color or otherwise to pursue their dreams in STEM or simply their passions for education. I am pro-nerd and believe that all (ethical) curiosities should be explored to the individual’s contentment. I came to the US in December of 2019. I arrived as a visitor and my family opted to file an adjustment of status, when the COVID 19 pandemic prolonged my stay. In December 2021 I received my work authorization, set to expire in December 2023. In the academic year 2022-2023 I attended Virginia Tech. I falsely believed that my work authorization would qualify me to receive financial aid. It did not, but my family paid the full cost, believing that high academic performance would help my case. A full school year and a financial suspension later, I started working at my local Walmart as I prepared for community college in the fall. I qualified for a driver’s license and in-county tuition through my EAD. I lost both when my EAD expired in December. With the remaining debt from Virginia Tech and out-of-state tuition, three times in county, I began the spring semester. I was limited in the classes I could afford, making my schedule to just above full-time. I had an extension to my EAD through Deferred Enforced Departure, but this did not affect my tuition. Having worked through 2023, I qualified for a Maryland Non-compliant Driver’s License. I believed the document would provide me with proof of address and requalify me for in-county. When I received the license in the mail, I was so anxious that I immediately filled out a residency change form for every available semester. The rejection notice took the earth from under my feet. The document had to be accompanied by a functional EAD or an acceptable Notice of Action. After days of moping, I searched their available documents for a way out. I happened upon the Maryland Dream Act, a legislation that applied to me but I had no clue of. The callous interactions with my registration office ceased when I submitted the document. The representative I’d spoken to so many times before had not realized that I graduated from a Maryland high school. She likely hadn’t glanced at my file outside of the residency case and this issue could’ve been solved much earlier. I was poorly informed of my choices, and I fear that other people are unnecessarily in this position. In the coming year I plan to enforce better communication of resources for undocumented individuals in the school. I don't believe that immigration should be any more difficult than it has to be, and it hurts to suffer needlessly simply because you don't know what questions to ask. Thank you for your time.

A significant obstacle that I’ve faced was hopelessness in my immigration journey. I am currently an undocumented resident of Maryland. I entered the country as a visitor in December 2019 and could not return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My family opted to submit an adjustment of status. I received my work authorization in January of 2022. I completed my high school education in the US. Everything felt possible. I was accepted into Virginia Tech, where I spent my freshman year of college. When tuition was released, I learned that I did not qualify for Financial Aid. My family believed that my time at Virginia Tech would help my immigration case. I watched my family struggle with nearly $50,000 in tuition. In May of 2023, I received notice of my first academic suspension from Virginia Tech. I volunteered with the Appalachian Prison Book Project twice while attending Virginia Tech. Volunteers read book request letters from inmates across the Appalachian Mountains and picked out a book that matched their request. Both letters I fulfilled were from inmates trying to keep their hopes up in a hopeless situation. They both felt like they were giving in to their surroundings and wanted books that reaffirmed their sense of self. One person wanted a book about someone who overcame negative groupthink and maintained their mental freedom in a bad situation. He received an autobiography of a woman who escaped a cult and made a life for herself. The other wanted the next book in a series he read as a child. Both requests inspired me. In May of 2023, I started working at my local Walmart. I was home for the summer and decided I would attend Frederick Community College for the next year. I am studying to become a biomedical engineer. Fall of 2023 was the first semester where I fully worked for my tuition. I finished with a 3.1 GPA. My work authorization would expire in December of 2023, but I thankfully qualified for an extension. I qualified for in-state tuition in Maryland because of my work authorization. I qualified for a license in Maryland because of my work authorization. The extension did not apply to these. I feared that I would become a burden to my family. It would’ve been easy to lose hope when my authorization expired, but I refused. I recounted how many experiences I’d forgone at Virginia Tech because I was stuck in my head. I used gratitude to overcome this obstacle. I’m grateful for all the sacrifices my family made. I’m grateful for all the sacrifices I’ve made. I’m grateful for the mistakes I made. I took charge of my actions and realized that some things were just out of my control. I can be grateful for the sacrifices, but that means nothing if I let them go to waste. In my gratitude, I also find respect. I respect my family’s sacrifices, so I pursue my education. I respect my sacrifices. I respect the work I put into my education and the courage it took to move countries. I respect the women who inspired me, so I must work up to their level. If I had a smooth immigration, I would not have learned the value of my work this early. Regardless of my status, I am in the land of opportunity. I get to explore a biomechanics degree because I’m here. I get to face these challenges that strengthen me for the person I will become. In the end, I’ll get to say that I lived to tell the story.

I want to pursue engineering because I love witnessing how concepts connect across fields. Currently, I am pursuing two associate degrees, double majoring in Biotechnology and General Engineering. I was introduced to the Biomedical Engineering field at Virginia Tech and decided on it as my major. The community fostered underneath the Center for Enhancing Engineering Diversity allowed access to professors and researchers of all fields.  I was captivated by the cross into the fields of transportation, sport safety, and bone health. I am determined to explore each of these realms. At Virginia Tech, I had academic trouble that caused me to doubt my place in the program. Dr. Bevlee Watford, founder and former director of CEED, spoke on her struggles when she first pursued engineering. The African American face I saw on that stage, stating how resilience is at the core of engineering, was all the inspiration I needed. I grew up in Sub-Saharan Liberia, a nation exposed to all manners of war, public health crises, pollution, and low access to health care. The only STEM divisions there are medicine, pharmacology, and civil engineering. Visiting researchers and engineers make major discoveries and advancements in healthcare and leave the country. I pursue engineering because it was not an option back home. I had no interactions with the researchers back home, and they certainly did not look like me. The disconnect between the faces of the field and the people it would serve caused mass distrust of health workers during the Ebola virus epidemic.  I pursue engineering because I wish to be the face that connects a little black girl to my field. I want to be the community member who lets kids know it's all possible and they could be in my position someday. The Biotechnology program at my university set my sights on Genetic engineering and DNA recombination. The impact of genetic engineering on the Ebola epidemic, among other public health concerns, cannot be overstated. At this time, I’ve not completed a co-op engineering program. My immigration journey is latent with issues related to my work authorization. Thankfully I’ve received an extension through June of 2026 and I’m actively applying to co-ops through Handshake and LinkedIn. My interest floats to mechanical engineering and product development opportunities as I wish to have varied experience across Engineering disciplines. Despite my limited abilities, I’ve utilized the available resources for research opportunities. Currently, I am working with a professor in the Chemistry Department to observe bacteria in bioremediation. I’m also having a personal project in the Biotechnology lab to identify the cell mechanics of isolates from a used water bottle. My involvement in the physical aspects of Engineering is limited as I adjust to the community college and work while in school. I have a passion for engineering that I hope to pass on.

My mother was in an abusive relationship for much of my life. My father used the “golden child” as a tool to exert power over my mother and my sisters. My half-sister, his daughter was the golden child over my eldest sister until the sister closest to me was born. When she turned out looking like my mom, he was convinced that my mother was unfaithful. When I was born and looked most like him, he was temporarily satisfied. My childhood was filled with an eggshell-set household, dependent on labile moods set by fits of insecurity. The first time I watched an adult argument end in resolution and cuddling, I questioned if my best friend’s parents were well. My positioning as the golden child challenged my upcoming. The regular fights between siblings once ended in my sister being beaten and thrown out of the house. I watched every woman in my life who did not comply experience the worst violence I’ve ever known. The Ephesians 6:1 culture of Liberia led me to believe this was simply a way of life. No one bats an eye at a man disciplining his children. When my mother, my sister, and I took a trip to visit family in America, my mother stayed a month, while my sister and I stayed the whole summer. She returned home at the end of June, after a week of picking out clothes and colognes to take home as gifts. I remember the morning I found out. In the quaint little kitchen of a townhouse, my aunt handed me her phone and I saw images of my mother, bruised with bumps along her wrist, arm, and lower face. My father was displeased with what he considered “cheap” gifts and believed we weren’t calling him enough. I learned that this was a regular thing. I’d leave for school as my mother prepared pastries for her café and catering business, which kept us afloat in the recessions that followed the Ebola epidemic. A fight would burst out, ending in pastries scattered on the floor, the baking sheets used as a weapon, and the café closed for the day. My older sisters all bore witness to it. My live-in cousins, and the household help too. The company drivers assigned to my mother, the Finance Manager of the nationwide YMCA, witnessed the embarrassment, then drove her to work like nothing happened. It was the hush-hush culture that let this go on so long. The secrecy of her divorce efforts, the refusal to say the true reason she was leaving him, the words “children are meant to be seen and not heard.” These all contributed to how trapped I felt when community members convinced my mother not to get the divorce. I am not in the social work field, but I plan to foster a community that allows free speech about these situations. One that takes the shame off the victim and places it on the perpetrator. A community that favors a safe escape from these situations, for individuals like my mother. She never turned to alcohol; she is a devout Christian. She finds her escape in the bible and the church community. They are separated now, as they now live on separate continents. He can’t hurt her anymore. Still, I fear the day his rage takes over and he has access to her. I wish the community members understood the full weight of their input, I wish I’d said something at the time. I wish my quiet support was louder, and I’ll rectify that mistake for as long as I live.

My name is Alvina Bracewell and I’d like to thank you for considering my application. Mrs. Jean Baptiste sounds like a wonderful woman. The tireless support from the elders in our family set us up to go so far. I moved from Liberia to America with my mother and older sister in December 2019, three months before the Covid-19 shutdown. We moved in with my maternal extended family, a clash of personalities all devoted to the family's future. The family stuck together to ensure that my youngest cousins and I grew up in the better school districts in our area, all working to ensure we’d never want for anything. The endless support network between the family and the friends we made was foundational in my educational pursuit. I attend a community college, double majoring in Biotechnology and General Engineering. I spend my free time applying my classroom knowledge to unconventional settings. I plan to study Biomedical Engineering through to the graduate level as well as Astrophysics. I am drawn to the STEM fields. I wish to pursue public and foreign policy at some point in my career. The Liberia I know as home was once home to a ravenous civil war, that brought about many of its current issues. The United Nations, ECOWAS, and Save the Children were pivotal in support of the civilians affected by the war, including my mother, father, and two eldest sisters. These organizations are key aid factors during political uncertainty and unrest. I remember the streets of Liberia, with children selling what they could to support themselves and their families. The poor infrastructure and socioeconomic factors in the country make it an insecure living environment. Withheld wages and recurring sanctions, combined with rampant corruption, leave many families with unpaid breadwinners for long periods. My long-term plan for community engagement involves the funding of trade schools in Liberia, that empower young people to support their families even in the absence of formal education. I plan to leverage my career in biomedical research to ensure quality access to healthcare at public Liberian hospitals, as several facilities are left inoperative due to trivial complications such as poor electricity. At the local level, I sympathize with the plight of schoolteachers tasked with bridging the gap for students who can’t afford it. I plan to participate in several missions battling food and educational insecurity in my community. I believe in the power of reading and have volunteered with my local library and the Appalachian Prison Book Project. I’ve lived in two cities and am aware of the several means to contribute. Maintenance of local flora, historical sites, and public facilities are among my preferred volunteering experiences. Upholding the beauty in my community is the benchmark of my livelihood. All my ambitions are geared towards preserving my community and enhancing the opportunities where I grew up.

My migration is a journey that I cannot imagine myself without. I moved to America in December 2019. I am currently an undocumented resident of Maryland. I entered the country as a visitor in December 2019 and could not return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My family opted to submit an adjustment of status. I received my work authorization in January of 2022. I completed my high school education in the US. Everything felt possible. I was accepted into Virginia Tech, where I spent my freshman year of college. When tuition was released, I learned that I did not qualify for Financial Aid. My family believed that my time at Virginia Tech would help my immigration case. I watched my family struggle with nearly $50,000 in tuition that year. I moved back to Maryland in May 2023. I started working at my local Walmart. I was home for the summer and decided I would attend Frederick Community College for the next year. I am studying to become a biomedical engineer. Fall of 2023 was the first semester where I fully worked for my tuition. I finished with a 3.1 GPA. My work authorization expired in December of 2023, but I thankfully qualified for an extension. I qualified for in-state tuition in Maryland because of my work authorization. I qualified for a license in Maryland because of my work authorization. The extension did not apply to these. I feared that I would become a burden to my family. It would’ve been easy to lose hope when my authorization expired, but I refused. I could not waste the work I already put into being in this country. In the past year, I've worked about 32 hours a week and been an executive member of an on-campus club, all while a full-time student. This has been a struggle, but I've learned lessons in time management, prioritization, and resource-seeking. This has been a valuable year for personal growth. I will work towards a 4.0 GPA in the coming year. The resilience that I've displayed throughout my journey makes me confident that I will succeed in both this goal and my career goal. Biomechanics is the study of the mechanical aspects of biological systems. Its applications in physical therapy, orthopedics, and ergonomics fascinate me. I learned of the field at Virginia Tech, visiting labs and speaking with professors about their applications of it. As I've seen it, the field is about continuous learning and reshaping of practices for each individual body. I'm interested in its application for motor vehicle regulation and sports medicine. The road to a biomechanics career involves both undergraduate and graduate fields of study and I am aware of the ever-changing nature of the field. I am excited about a career that I may continue to grow in. My struggles through immigration brought out the tenacity I need to succeed in this career. If I had a smooth immigration, I would not have learned the value of my work this early. Regardless of my status, I am in the land of opportunity. I get to explore a biomechanics degree because I’m here. I get to face these challenges that strengthen me for the person I will become. In the end, I’ll get to say that I lived to tell the story.