My name is Anaya Diaz, and my parents are from the Dominican Republic. My father immigrated to New York City when he was 18, following his mother who had come a year earlier to establish a stable life. He hoped that his efforts would pay off for his children one day. I am proud to say that my brother and I have had many opportunities thanks to our parents' hard work. We are honors and AP students with a passion for music, surrounded by kind and intelligent people in a community that our parents could only have dreamed of. We grew up in the Bronx, NY, in an area that was beautiful but deteriorating. My parents moved us to a small town in New Jersey, where my brother and I discovered our passions; he found physics, and I found computer science. I took computer science seriously for the first time in high school. Though my middle school had offered an elementary level class, I didn't understand the importance and impact of computer science on our world. But now I do. I have learned multiple coding languages in high school, and just this past summer, I discovered the various branches of the computer science industry. Cybersecurity particularly fascinated me; it's the effort to defend and protect people against cyber crimes. Unfortunately, some people misuse their cybersecurity knowledge for unethical purposes, such as hacking. I want to fight against that. My parents, who grew up without the technology we have today, are vulnerable to the dangers of the cyber world. My family in the Dominican Republic and my old neighborhood in the Bronx don't have access to the same educational resources I was lucky to receive. I moved to New Jersey and realized the advantages that so many people had from the start, advantages I never would have had if my parents and their parents never immigrated here. In college, I hope to get the education and opportunities that everyone deserves. No one should be vulnerable to a growing threat just because they were never given a chance. Too often, lack of resources is taken advantage of because people don't know any better. I want to educate, give back to my communities, and advocate for the importance of computer science and the need for diversity in the industry. Someone needs to be the voice and the open door for those who are just waiting for an opportunity to come but need a little help to get there. I want to be that person for my parents, grandparents, and the generations that will come after me. I am the product of my parents' progress and triumph.