The Mars rover, Opportunity, is among the biggest STEM accomplishments in the universe. Only intended to serve 90 days, Opportunity explored Mars for 14 years, collecting rocks and discovering signs of past water. From its entrance to the rocky planet till its last communication with NASA, Opportunity’s longevity can be attributed to its engineers and scientists. Starting from Opportunity’s landing, engineers already encountered a challenge: landing the rover without crashing its hardware. Through numerous tests covering all scenarios, the JPL engineers decided to attach a parachute to the spacecraft holding the rover, inflating it when the spacecraft entered Mars’ atmosphere. Engineers also used rockets to slow the spacecraft right before landing. Opportunity successfully landed, equipped with a microscope to examine rocks that uncover Mars’ past, and solar panels to power itself through the journey. Autonomy was built into Opportunity’s software too, which eventually saved it from crashing into a fatal boulder. The ability to effectively operate and communicate with an object million miles away from us shows just how well NASA engineered Opportunity. True to its name, the rover provided scientists the opportunity to fulfill their curiosity and inspired a whole new generation of engineers, including me, to explore space.

A great character is one that resonates with the audience’s values. During my childhood, Youtube was my constant source of entertainment. I would come home every day to watch clips from different movies, including many from Disney. It wasn’t until middle school that I watched the full movies, but when I did, I was entranced by the animation and how it transports the audience into a magical fictional world all the while teaching valuable lessons. Out of all the Disney characters I adore, my favorite character has to be Mulan. The epitome of intelligence and a representation for Chinese girls, Mulan resonated with who I wanted to be. While preparing for the matchmaker, Mulan was conditioned to honor her family through beauty standards. As an only child and a woman, Mulan felt a heavy burden weighing on her. After her failure, doubts start to plague Mulan as to her part in society and whether she was helping her family or bringing harm instead. If she wanted to be herself, she would hurt the family. So, was it worthwhile being someone completely different from her values? My favorite scene of Mulan was when she realized that she did not go to war just for her father, but rather to prove her own self-worth. It struck me during this scene that self-worth is just as important as helping others. Loving and knowing yourself is an important part of life. Ultimately, Mulan perfectly shows that you do not need to pretend to be someone else to do so. Even when Shang betrayed Mulan after her true identity was unmasked, Mulan continued to warn her comrades of the Hans approaching. I strive to be like Mulan, helping people without hesitation, whether or not the person wronged her. Despite all the discouragement, such as being told to know her place or being unsuited for the war, Mulan created her own place in society with unwavering perseverance. She takes the difficulties of self-discovery that the audience, including me, has experienced and shows how we can overcome them. Watching Mulan helped me become less worried about failure and following the strict path my parents and society expect from me. There are so many ways that I can help my family while also discovering myself. Even in adversity, I want to persevere to see in my reflection someone worthwhile.

Throughout my school years, I often conflicted over what I aspired to be in the future. While other people confidently stated what they intended to major in college, I found myself failing to choose just one career. There are many problems in the world that I would love to solve. When I discovered chemical engineering, I was immediately attracted by the numerous fields that it is involved in. Everything is included when it comes to chemical engineering. After all, atoms are the building blocks of matter. I found it fascinating that everything in the world is made from the same subatomic particles, yet they all look and act differently from one another. Around the time I learned about chemical engineering, my grandma was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Fortunately, she was able to survive cancer because of chemotherapy. I was fascinated by this technology and wanted to know more about how it worked. Enlightened by the various medical devices and treatments that are invented, I knew that I wanted to get involved in engineering biotechnology. Before I knew I wanted to become a chemical engineer, I was attracted to space exploration. I wanted to help astronauts go to Mars by designing life support systems for their long journey. Like I said before, the whole universe is connected through the same building blocks. So, although this might seem unrelated to my previously stated aspirations, my two interests are related to one another. Currently, scientists in space are working on creating 3D printing tissues in space as well as researching protein crystals. These experiments are valuable in improving pharmaceuticals and creating artificial organs. Engineering artificial organs prove valuable as they make transplants more accessible to patients who might wait possibly even years for one. These are the types of research that I want to someday be involved in. Everything in this world is connected, starting with dying stars and the big bang, spreading elements everywhere. Now, I am collecting all the information from everything around me and bringing them together to learn the root principles of how matters work. By knowing the root principles, I can use them to manipulate atoms and chemical bonds to engineer life-saving solutions. I aspire to solve problems that are as ubiquitous as atoms in everyone’s life. I believe that health issues are prevalent to everyone, and as a chemical engineer, I will do my best to allow everyone to live a healthy life.

Ring! Ring! The phone emitted a series of notes that triggered my reflexes. I immediately picked it up. “Eastern Chinese. How may I help you?” I wrote down the customer’s order in an English-Chinese hybrid. “Dad, one chicken and broccoli combo!” I shouted across the restaurant over the blaring fan. That is how my days went most of the time. Immediately after school, I would stay in my family’s take-out restaurant where I tended to customers at the front desk. After a while, I became familiar with many customers, recognizing their faces and what they usually ordered. These interactions with my customers helped me become a sociable person, far from the shy girl I was before. During the weekends, our restaurant is the busiest. Unlike my other classmates or friends, I was unable to participate in many extracurricular activities for this reason. Helping my family’s business was a bigger priority than being able to participate in extracurriculars. Although I lost many opportunities to explore my other interests, I gained superb time management skills. While working in the restaurant, it can be difficult to find enough time to complete my school work. Eventually, I was able to balance work and school by abstaining from procrastination at all costs. My time in the take-out restaurant also made me resourceful. Especially during the pandemic, prices of ingredients from our food supplier skyrocketed. Thus, my parents tasked me with the job of finding the best prices for various ingredients. Every week, I compared food prices at Walmart, Food Lion, or any other grocery store. In addition, I also helped my parents call different companies about various malfunctions in the restaurant. If the fryer is broken, I would find an electrician to call. If there was a mistake on our electric or cable bill, I would call the customer service line. Overall, I acquired many skills such as adaptability, teamwork, resourcefulness, and time management. I learned many skills working in my family’s restaurant that I will carry with me in my future career as a chemical engineer. As an avid science and math enthusiast, I knew I wanted to make a positive impact through chemical engineering. By obtaining a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, I can be involved in improving various aspects of my community, such as health and the environment. First, I'll work to create biomedicine and biomedical devices that will save people from illnesses such as cancer. Specifically, I hope to engineer drug delivery systems that will combat cancer tumors. Innovations like these can help not only the cancer patients in my community, such as my grandma, but patients all over the world to live a better and less risky life. In addition, I plan to improve my community’s health by engineering artificial organs to make transplants more accessible to people who might wait possibly even years for one. Lastly, my chemical engineering degree will be utilized to save my community’s environment. By engineering renewable energy systems, like solar panels, and biofuel, we can reduce carbon emissions and climate change. Additionally, we can design filtration systems in waste streams to keep our water clean from hazardous materials. As I begin my studies this fall, I will be commuting home on the weekends to continue helping my parents around in our restaurant. My time in the restaurant is an experience that I will forever cherish, and using the skills I acquired from it, I will lead my community and family toward a bright future.

Society is filled with stereotypes and expectations of different groups of people. Whether it be your race, sexuality, or gender, all groups face being confined to a social norm. In our generation, more than ever, women are beginning to empower ourselves to break the shell we are pushed into. Society must push forward a new normal for everyone. To enforce a new normal, society should encourage and clarify that women can take the same jobs and responsibilities as men. Seeing examples of other women that are taking higher positions motivates other women to do the same. If there are no examples of women taking action, women would be less keen to step out of the stereotypes. Take Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for example. She is a very iconic Supreme Court Justice who inspired many girls to make a change in the world, too. Having these figures in the spotlight gives girls all around the world motivation to achieve their goals. After choosing an occupation to study, women still have to face obstacles in the workforce. They are paid less and seen as less capable than their male counterparts. Oftentimes, women are viewed as more incompetent as they age even though they are an expert in their careers. This perspective does not make sense as gender does not lessen the experience a person holds. Being blind to the gender of the employee helps deter the bias of employers. Regulations and laws of employment can make this happen. Without the gender factor in play, employers can accurately assess an employee based on their merit. Domestic responsibilities should be equal for everyone. Everyone should do chores, cook, and clean the house. I can still remember when someone told me that it was my responsibility as a woman to do chores. Doing chores is completely okay, but specifying that women need to do chores is discriminatory. Our generation should make it normal for house chores and responsibility to pertain to all genders. Women or anyone should have access to being educated on the right way to be treated by their partner. Without knowing what is supposed to be a healthy relationship, many women and victims of domestic abuse are clueless that they are in an unhealthy relationship. Everyone from a young age should learn the signs of an abusive relationship. We can begin by implementing these signs into the school curriculum. Women who are already in a relationship may feel scared and hopeless against an abusive partner. To give those women more resources and help, call centers should be created for domestic abuse victims. Empowering women should not be done at the expense of other women. There is a misconception that girly women are more unfit for higher-position jobs. As shown in one of my favorite movies, Legally Blonde, empowering women can also entail embracing femininity while taking roles that are traditionally males. This brings up the idea of making empowering movies that inspire women to stay true to themselves while still breaking barriers. As the minority group becomes larger, all women of different races should be included in the media, too. The future of our society depends on how we treat everyone that is a part of it. With women making up half of the population, society is missing out on 50% of its potential. Seeing that society is already advancing continuously, imagine the great ideas and advancements that could be made if more talented women are given the proper opportunity to thrive. I hope that the empowered women in our generation will continue to empower other women in the future, too.

A bowl of ground pork and chives lay on the table. My mother grabbed a dumpling wrapper and sealed a bit of meat filling into the center. Sitting across the table, I watched her skillfully create the pretty folds on top of the dumpling that I failed to make in my previous attempt. I looked back up at my mother's serene face and wondered whether she was reminded of her childhood in China. My parents are Chinese immigrants. When I asked them why they came to America, they always responded, "For a better life." With close to no English skills, my parents made a living for themselves by working in restaurants. In my eyes, my parents were invincible. Even with all the odds against them, my parents managed to create a comfy home for me and my sister. My childhood home was a small room in Chinatown, New York. Our mother stayed home to take care of us while my father went to work somewhere out of state. He would only come home for a few days each year because of the distance. Whenever we heard my dad's voice at the front door, my sister and I immediately raced to be embraced by him. Though my family's living arrangement was not spacious, I would not have it any other way. Our tight apartment was filled with memories of celebrations. Every Chinese New Year, we would gather around our folding table to eat hotpot and wish for a better year. Everything we did as a family was in that room. It was where we ate, slept, and stored all our belonging. As I grew older, I began to translate for my mom anytime we were going out. Though my mom can understand the general idea of what people say, it is hard for her to express her responses in English. I would always proudly help my mom out and even teach her a little English along the way. After sixth grade, my family moved to Ohio for better job opportunities. Moving to Ohio forced me out of my comfort zone. My sister and I lived with our aunt, and my parents lived in another city in an employee apartment. I feared separating from my parents. The people I have always looked up to for anything are not going to be by my side. My aunt did provide us housing and meals, but she did not care much about us. I understood that my cousins were my aunt's priority. After adjusting to the transition, I eventually learned to take care of myself and my sister. In the absence of my parents, I stepped up to be there for her. She was still in elementary school, and I did not want her to feel alone in this difficult time in her life. In eighth grade, I started experiencing bullying. As I was walking down the hallway towards math class, I heard, "Angela, did you bring your rice today?" followed by a snicker. I did not respond, but deep down, I was hurt by their comments. My classmates continued to bully me with racist jokes like, "Do you eat cats and dogs?" or "Ching-chong" and mocked me for my Asian facial features. With my rapid blinking eyes, I held back the flood of tears that threatened to release. I could not fathom why people would judge me for how I look. For most of that school year, my head faced down anytime I walked through the hallways. My mom consoled me through the phone, telling me to stand up for myself and keep my head up. She told me I should not let the comments bother me. I began to become more confident in myself and my heritage the more I thought about what my mom said. There is nothing wrong with the way I look, nor is it wrong to eat rice. My Chinese culture includes many wonderful aspects that I embraced. In many ways, my adversity has shaped who I am. Like how my parents gave me the best in a country that was foreign to them, I want to give my best effort towards extraterrestrial colonization. I will help prepare humans to explore Mars by developing biotechnology to raise the odds of surviving on the harsh, foreign planet. Being bullied and knowing that many are experiencing the same thing motivates me to help create union in the world for all races. My vision is for all countries to work together on the Mars mission. It is an accomplishment for mankind, not just one country. I want my parents to look up at the stars and be proud of their daughter, and I want them to feel they did have a better life by moving to America. My dream destination does not only include Mars. I want to bring my parents to China. As a token of gratitude, I want my parents to be immersed in their culture again. Maybe when we visit her hometown, I will see the serene look on my mom's face again.