Two days before I was supposed to begin college, everything changed. I had been waitlisted at Howard University and had accepted that my college journey would begin at Queens College in my hometown of New York. Then, just days before classes began, I learned that I had been accepted to Howard for the following spring semester. I chose Howard because I wanted more than an education. I wanted to experience what it meant to learn in an environment where Black excellence was not the exception, but the expectation. As a first-generation college student and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, there was something powerful about imagining myself becoming part of Howard's legacy. I spent my first semester at Queens College, and in Spring 2024, I finally arrived at Howard. Now, as a senior, Howard means even more to me than it did when I was waiting for that acceptance. It is where I have grown into a leader, built lifelong relationships, discovered new possibilities for my career, and learned more about who I want to be. Getting into Howard felt like a door finally opening. My experience here has taught me that walking through that door was only the beginning. Howard has challenged me to make the most of the opportunity—and eventually, to hold doors open for others.

To me, education means access: access to opportunities, to choices, and ultimately, to a future that may not have been possible otherwise. As the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and a first-generation college student, I grew up understanding the importance of education long before I fully understood how to navigate it. My parents always emphasized that my education could open doors for me, even if they could not always tell me how to find those doors. When I entered college, all three of us were learning together. That meant becoming independent very quickly. I learned how to navigate financial aid, search for scholarships, pursue internships, build relationships with mentors, and advocate for myself. There were moments when that independence felt empowering and others when it felt isolating. But with every new experience, education gave me more than knowledge from a classroom; it gave me choices. Today, I am a senior computer science major and sociology minor at Howard University. My education has taken me into spaces I once knew very little about, including internships with Coca-Cola and IBM. Studying computer science has taught me how to build and solve problems, while sociology has challenged me to think about who has access to the solutions we create and who may be left behind. That perspective has shaped how I lead. I founded Blacktable because I realized that access to education alone does not guarantee access to opportunity. Students can be talented, ambitious, and hardworking and still miss life-changing internships, conferences, and professional development programs simply because they never knew those opportunities existed. Through Blacktable, I work to make those opportunities easier for undergraduate and early-career students to find. I also created the Suited for Success Scholarship, raising $600 to provide two students with $300 each toward professional attire. It was a small way of addressing another barrier I had come to understand: sometimes an opportunity can be within reach, but the cost of being prepared for it can still stand in the way. My education has changed the trajectory of my life, but its value to me is not measured only by what I have been able to achieve for myself. Education means gaining knowledge and then using it. It means entering rooms my parents never had the opportunity to enter and making sure I leave the door a little wider for the person coming behind me. It means transforming the opportunities I have received into opportunities for someone else. That is what education means to me: not simply access to a better future, but the ability to create greater access for others.

At 11:43 a.m. on the first day of my junior year of high school, I sat in computer science(CS) with my leg bouncing beneath the desk.It was my first day back after a year and a half of remote school. One by one, students who had struggled the previous year were called into the hallway and encouraged to leave the program.My grades told me I could be next. I waited for my name. It was never called. I later learned why. I was one of only two young women in the class and the only Black young woman.My teacher did not know what I might accomplish, but he understood that removing me would take an opportunity from someone already underrepresented in the room.He left the door open, and through tutoring and persistence, I worked to prove I belonged on the other side.His decision taught me that potential does not need to be fully visible before it deserves an opportunity to grow. That opportunity also gave me the chance to reinforce why I wanted to pursue computer science. Long before I knew what CS was, I was fascinated by how things worked. As a child, I would take apart robotic toys and mechanical dolls just to examine the pieces inside. CS gave a name and direction to that curiosity.I could build, solve problems, and eventually create opportunities for others. As a high school senior, I set my sights on Howard University, where I am now a senior studying CS with a minor in sociology. I chose to pair the two because technology does not exist separately from the people it affects. Sociology has allowed me to examine biases within our social systems, while CS has shown me how those biases can be reproduced through data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Together, they have shaped the kind of technologist I want to become. That purpose extends beyond the classroom. During my sophomore year, I created Blacktable after realizing how difficult it could be for students to find conferences, internships, and professional-development programs before their deadlines. I built the web application to connect Black undergraduates with opportunities that could otherwise slip through the cracks.I later expanded Blacktable beyond sharing information by raising $600 for the Suited for Success Scholarship and awarding two students $300 each to purchase professional attire. Through these experiences, I have realized that I want to work at the intersection of technology and people.My career goal is to enter client-facing technology, where I can translate complex tools into solutions that address real human needs and help organizations understand how technology can best serve the people using it. Long term, I want the opportunities I receive to extend beyond me. As my career grows, I hope to become a philanthropist, establish a nonprofit for underrepresented girls interested in STEM, and fund scholarships that remove financial and practical barriers from their paths.I want service to become one of the ways I measure my professional success. The $500 Concrete Rose Scholarship would help me take the next step in that journey. As I prepare for my final semester at Howard, I am working to avoid taking out additional student loans.Every dollar I receive reduces what I must borrow and eventually repay with interest, allowing me to enter my career with greater financial freedom. My teacher once kept a door open for me when my potential was not yet obvious. Since then, I have learned what can happen when someone is simply given the opportunity to grow. Through my career, Blacktable, and eventually my own nonprofit, I intend to keep that door open for others.