I've always liked designing and building things to solve problems. In elementary school, I enjoyed class projects like creating hot air balloons out of paper, or constructing bridges out of popsicle sticks to support a weight. With my enduring passion from elementary school, in high school I applied to the Engineering Design and Innovation (EDI) Fellows program where I discovered a new joy for engineering: my expertise in building things and solving problems could be harnessed to benefit the community. As an EDI fellow I work on service projects to benefit the community. EDI fellows has been a class period during my sophomore to senior years of high school in which I would brainstorm and work with other fellows on our service projects. In projects like building little free libraries, I was able to see how something I helped build benefitted a school and neighborhood. In my project to improve the system in which the customers of my local food pantry receive their food I was able to see how the work I did could help people I interacted with as a volunteer. I learned that I find satisfaction in executing a plan to construct something with a purpose that helps others. I also spent several winters as a member of the backstage crew of the school musical, building props and large set pieces. With the backstage crew I learned how to take an image, sketch out blueprints, and lead a team of my classmates to follow the blueprints to recreate the original image. I always felt a sense of pride when I went to watch the musical and I could look at the set pieces actors stood on, knowing that I directed the pieces' construction. During the past couple summers, I've enjoyed learning how to support a garden. After my first year, I realized that the planters I originally planted the plants in were too small, and stunted their growth. The next summer, striving to improve, I wrote out plans to build raised beds for the plants, that would be surrounded by a fence to keep out the raccoons that ate the last summer's melons. I wrote out a materials list for everything I would need as well as blueprints and thought out steps to construct each piece. After I ordered the materials and put together the raised beds, it was fulfilling to see how my plan became action. Overall, through my time as an EDI Fellow and other community service opportunities, I learned that true happiness comes from helping others. I also learned that I personally find satisfaction and passion in designing and building things to solve problems. I want to study Mechanical Engineering so that I can learn to construct machines that become useful to people, whether they be elevators, cars, or prosthetics. I enjoy solving problems and designing solutions, in school projects and in my own garden, and I believe that I would thrive pursuing a career in Engineering.

I'm a high school senior and student-athlete from Chesapeake, Virginia. Through my time in high school, I've striven to take the most advanced classes available, especially in math and physics, because I enjoy the exercise each problem holds. I want to go to college so I can be an engineer to apply the math and science I've learned to improve others' lives. My parents both came from humble beginnings. My mother was born after the Spanish civil war, but still during the rule of Franco. Neither of her parents got more than an elementary school education. My dad spent a lot of time during his childhood living in a trailer, and his father fought in the Vietnam war. Still, both my parents went to college and medical school to become ophthalmologists–to give people the gift of sight, and earn enough money to create a more prosperous life for their children than they had themselves. From my parents, I've learned the importance of working hard and striving to be the best version of myself as possible. I discovered the joy of volunteering at the ES Chapel Food Pantry when I saw the impact I could make on others' lives. Soon I realized that there were many customers who only spoke Spanish and seemed confused when addressed in English. I felt proud of my years of learning Spanish when I could speak with them in their native language, and see their expressions relax and faces smile. After participating for several Saturdays, I became familiar with other volunteers and learned more about the customers, but I also recognized a problem in the food pantry's system. After we bagged their goods, we would put their bags in a wagon while the customer moved to choose their produce. The wagons had labels such as "Tinker Bell" or "Cinderella," that customers had to remember. However, for customers that only spoke Spanish, "Tinkerbell" was a random assortment of syllables with no meaning that they quickly forgot, often causing them to take somebody else’s wagon by mistake, or lose their own. Additionally, when we ran out of wagons, the customers lost track of their goods sitting in uniform carts I decided to try to solve the problems. I designed new labels with large numbers. This way customers of most languages could understand the number for their cart shown by a volunteer holding up fingers, or the numerical digit on the label. I also included characters on the labels, but I used characters known internationally, with their names in English and Spanish written on the label. I kept the characters with numbers because I saw how including the images of popular characters like Donald Duck or Spiderman caused an uplifting effect. I also printed laminated alphabetical tokens that would follow the customers' goods, and the customer would remember their letter after the volunteer showed the customer the token. Along with the tokens, I 3D printed a small box to hold the tokens, that was heavy enough to not blow away, and had large slits to drain when it rained. After implementing my solutions, I printed a sheet for the volunteers that explained the new system. I was able to leave the system better than I found it, and know that I had an impact in the lives of hundreds of customers of the food pantry, especially for Spanish speaking customers. I learned that serving people is something that brings me joy, and that I must include later in my career, and my experiences helped me decide to be an engineer: to use problem solving to help others.