My dad is the reason I have grown into who I am today. He has shaped my interests, faith, dreams, aspirations, morals, values, sense of humor, and even my taste in music. He is quiet, but he has a big heart and is an incredible father. He may give long-winded lectures about his fatherly advice, but all of that advice has helped shape me into the intelligent, confident, and caring person I am now. I would not be where I am today without my dad. Ever since I was little, my dad has shared his interests with me. Whether that involved letting me type on his laptop as a baby, jamming out to 80s and 90s rock on Guitar Hero, teaching me how to play Magic the Gathering, or practicing jiu-jitsu with me, my dad has always involved me in things he is interested in. And, as it turns out, they are usually things that interest me as well. I may have inherited my physical features from my mom, but my dad and I are total nerds. My passion for games, puzzles, computers, and sci-fi is all from him. My dad is the reason that I am going to be studying computer science. Although I will be taking a slightly different approach to computer science, my deep interest in computers and logic is no doubt because of him. Funnily enough, I am attending the same college that both of my parents went to. My dad has played a massive part in the interests that I developed, but that is not where our similarities end. My dad had a big heart. He is very emotional, though you cannot tell by looking at him. At a glance, he seems very calm and stoic. And although he sometimes tries to hide it, he is sensitive. My dad and I are similar in that regard. He is such a unique person. Many men think being sensitive or showing emotion is a sign of weakness, but it makes my dad even stronger. He is slow to anger, very patient, and always willing to help me. He always wants what is best for me and tells me how proud he is. He also has always provided for our family. He does it purely out of love and never expects anything in return. He only wants our family to be happy, safe, and loved. He inspires me, and I hope I excel in computer science like he does. My relationship with my dad is very special to me, and he is an incredible person.

When I was in middle school, one of the activities I enjoyed most was when my gifted teacher would give us riddles and puzzles to solve. From number sequences to spatial reasoning, I loved having to think creatively to solve a problem. For a long time, I was unsure about what field I wanted to go into. I wanted something that required both intelligence and creativity. When I started coding last year, I found the process of using code to solve a problem fascinating. Then I discovered 3D modeling and the XR field, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a career that used both coding and creativity.  One subject that I find fascinating within computer science is extended reality (XR) technology. My dream is to work with simulated physics and virtual environments. Something else that is incredibly important to me in my future career is helping people. No matter what I end up doing, I want to make sure to help people. My goal is to assist in developing tools with XR technology to better society and care for fellow employees within the workplace. XR technology is a field that has a wide range of uses. It allows people to simulate a variety of situations. It helps save lives, construct buildings, and waste less resources. XR can be used to train surgeons and pilots, create overlays for construction, and create entirely digital mock-ups. It has so many positive uses, and I am passionate about making sure that we use it to improve people’s lives instead of making a profit. Big companies often use technology to replace human workers and lower production costs. However, doing this takes the humanity out of many industries and destroys jobs. I think replacing so many jobs with automation takes the soul and creativity out of many careers. Machines cannot think creatively or put emotion into their work like humans do. I want to help create tools to help people and save lives instead of replacing jobs.  The XR field is an industry that interests me on a personal level, but what makes me truly passionate about it is its potential. This technology could do so much good in the world, and I want to help make that happen. I hope to start my own business or obtain a leadership position someday. I care a lot about helping others, and I will use all of the resources that I have available to accomplish this.

I drew five cards. I looked at my hand, at the game board, and back at my hand. My mind was racing with possibilities; the planning and strategizing were thrilling. I considered multiple scenarios, weighed the pros and cons, and made my move. Ever since I can remember, I have loved puzzles and problem-solving. My parents know this, and my mom was the one who first suggested that I study extended reality (XR) technology. She proposed this because I love problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative solutions. I had considered computer science before because I liked problem-solving, but I also wanted to incorporate creativity into my career. XR involves programming, 3D modeling, physics, and virtual environments, and these subjects align with my dual interests in logical thinking and creative expression. My interest in these subjects has led me to pursue a career that works with XR technology. The degree that I am pursuing is called New Media Interactive Development. This degree is about developing software for recent technologies and revolutionizing how people interact with different media. I hope to use this degree to work in the XR field. My dream is to work with simulated physics and virtual environments. Not only am I fascinated by this technology, but I also believe it is a field that has a wide range of uses. It helps people save lives, construct buildings, and use fewer resources. XR can be used to train surgeons and pilots, create overlays for construction, and create entirely digital mock-ups. It has many positive uses, and I am passionate about ensuring that people use it to help humanity. When technology advances, large companies often use technology to replace human workers and lower production costs. I think replacing so many jobs with automation takes the soul and creativity out of many industries. Machines cannot think creatively or put emotion into their work like humans do. My goal in the XR field is to create tools to help people, not to take away their jobs. I will strive to change the tech industry to be more sustainable and healthier for humanity. Making technology that can improve lives and advance society matters to me. I love virtual environments, immersive technology, and helping people, and my goal is to create tools to keep everyone safer. People are already using XR technology to accomplish tasks that were previously impossible. It is an awe-inspiring innovation that changes the way we interact with reality. XR gives humans the tools to create entirely new environments and modify the world around us. It makes the whole world our canvas for expression. The sheer amount of applications for this technology is thrilling and makes me so intrigued by it. XR technology gives you complete creative freedom to create anything you want. Between the potential for innovation and the amount of good that is possible with this technology, it is by far the subject that I am most passionate about and inspired by. I am excited to someday work in this field and make a difference in the tech industry.

For the longest time, I did not know what career I wanted to pursue. I remember trying to figure it out; I thought about some potential careers I was interested in, but nothing seemed right. Psychology? Interesting, but there were hardly any career choices. Design? Maybe, but I wanted something more stimulating. Music? I loved it, but it was hard to live off of, and I had no interest in teaching. The search continued like this until my mom suggested I study extended reality (XR) technology. She recommended this field because of my passion for problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative solutions. I had considered computer science before because I liked problem-solving, but I also wanted to incorporate creativity into my career. Working with XR technology requires problem-solving, creativity, and physics. I loved the idea of working with simulated physics and virtual environments. My goals for my career are to work with XR technology and eventually take on a leadership role or even start my own business. I believe that XR technology can do a lot of good, and I am passionate about using it to create tools to improve people’s lives instead of replacing their jobs to make a profit. Helping people is incredibly important to me, and I want to incorporate it into my career no matter what I pursue. Throughout high school, I have done a lot of volunteering at my church and in my community. I find so much joy in serving people and volunteering my time. I am making a difference right now, and I believe I can make an even more significant difference in my future career by using technology to help others. XR technology is a field that has a wide range of uses. It allows people to simulate a variety of situations. It helps save lives, construct buildings, and waste less resources. XR can be used to train surgeons and pilots, create overlays for construction, and create entirely digital mock-ups. XR technology has uses that can help people as well as the environment, and I want to make sure that happens.  However, the degree program I am pursuing is in an emerging field, so I am attending a private school out of state. Unfortunately, this means that I have more expenses for college. I have already received scholarships from the school, but they do not offer full-ride scholarships. I still have a lot of money to pay each year, and I have been working on applying for scholarships and trying to find ways to minimize this cost. I possess some substantial goals for my future career but I cannot accomplish them without paying for college first. This scholarship will help me achieve my career goals by helping me pay for my tuition. The college I plan on attending requires all students to participate in a co-op, which I believe is an incredible networking opportunity and would look great on a resume. I will also gain the necessary skills to work in my desired field. I believe I am worthy of consideration for this scholarship and I will not let it go to waste. I am diligent, determined, and will always strive to help those around me.

One activity that I have enjoyed for a long time is riddles and puzzles. From number sequences to spatial reasoning, I love having to think creatively to solve a problem. For most of my high school career, I was skeptical about what field I wanted to pursue. I wanted something that required both intelligence and creativity. When I started coding last year, I found using code to solve problems fascinating. Then I discovered 3D modeling and the XR field, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a career that used computer science and imagination. Outside of computer science, I love serving people. It is always my goal to support and encourage others. I enjoy volunteering and leading within my school and community. In the future, I would like to have an even more substantial impact on society, using new technologies to help people. Imagine a world where doctors could see an overlay guiding them through surgery. One where construction workers could see exactly where the pipes and electrical lines were, or pilots could go through an accurate but digital test flight. These ideas may sound like science fiction, but these are just a few applications of extended reality (XR). “Extended reality” refers to any technology that creates an entirely virtual environment or augments the user’s environment with virtual components. This new technology has endless uses, and we are only starting to discover them all. XR technology fascinates me, and I would love to have a career working with it. I believe that XR technology can produce a positive difference in the world. It has a lot of potential to keep human workers safer and to create tools for many people. XR has usages in the healthcare, engineering, and e-commerce industries, as well as for maintenance and education. XR technology makes collaboration more convenient, helps guide people through tasks, and helps them learn without using as many physical resources. This technology can potentially improve and save so many people’s lives. As society advances, it is crucial to create technology that serves humanity. The tech field has historically destroyed jobs by bringing about more and more automation. My goal in XR technology is to combat this mindset by creating tools to help people in their careers instead of replacing them. Human subtlety, compassion, and creativity are vital to many careers and our society. I will strive to improve the attitudes of the tech industry and protect the humanity of jobs.

When I was in middle school, one of the activities I enjoyed most was when my gifted teacher would give us riddles and puzzles to solve. From number sequences to spatial reasoning, I loved having to think creatively to solve a problem. For a long time, I was unsure about what field I wanted to go into. I wanted something that required both intelligence and creativity. When I started coding last year, I found using code to solve problems fascinating. Then I discovered 3D modeling and the XR field, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a career that used both coding and creativity.  Outside of computer science, I love helping people. It is always my goal to support and encourage others. I enjoy volunteering and leading within my school and community. It can be hard to feel like you are making an impact, but I believe every good deed is worth it. Even if your actions only improve one life, you are still making a difference. In the future, I would like to have an even more substantial impact on society, using new technologies to help people. When technology advances, people can often lose their jobs, and I do not want to participate in automating everything. There is a lot of good that is possible with XR technology. It can be used to train surgeons, improve education, and make construction safer. XR technology can simulate dangerous situations without any risk of people getting hurt. I love virtual environments, immersive technology, and helping people, and my goal is to create tools to keep everyone safer and to advance society. Additionally, I would love to hold a leadership position someday. I volunteer a lot at my school and church, and I am the senior drum major for my school’s marching band. I love serving others and taking charge, and I will continue to do so throughout college. However, before I start making a difference in the tech field, I have to go to college. This scholarship would help me pay for that, which is a big concern for me right now. The degree program I am pursuing is in an emerging field, which means I will attend a private school out of state. Unfortunately, this means that I have more expenses for college. I believe that I am worthy of consideration for this scholarship, and I will not let it go to waste. I am hardworking, determined, and committed to helping those around me.  I am very excited to go to college in the fall because I am eager to meet more people who share my interests. I attend a small, rural high school with an even smaller technology program, and I am one of the only girls in the computer classes. I cannot wait to meet other women in technology. I will work hard in college and during my career to advance my field, workplace, and society. I will strive to keep helping and leading others throughout my life.

Five years ago. I remember sitting in my classroom during middle school and feeling completely alone. I was socially awkward, and people looked down on me for being strange. I remember being made fun of and being confused about interacting with others. I was quiet, insecure, and lonely. I felt like I did not belong. This year, I am in National Honor Society and Student Council. I am also the drum major for marching band. I have come a long way and gained a lot of confidence. I am now a leader within my community, a stark contrast to the shy kid in the back of the classroom. My experience with not fitting in has influenced the kind of leader that I have become. I always try to demonstrate leadership by making everyone feel like they belong. I am a leader in the music department at my school due to the fact that I am the drum major and an upperclassman. I always try to help seek out people who are alone or who seem upset and include them. When we had someone join marching band halfway through the season, I made an effort to be friendly with him and include him. He quickly came to fit in and belong with the band. He later thanked me for making him feel so welcome. Making everyone feel like they belong somewhere is the most important thing to me as a leader because I know how it feels to be an outsider. I want to contribute to this sense of community so that others do not feel alone and isolated like I did. No matter what organization I am part of, having a positive community will always be my top priority. In the future, I would love to continue to hold leadership positions and become a leader within my field. My goal is to work with extended reality (XR) technology. XR technology has many diverse applications and can improve countless people’s lives. Initially, I will lead by example by working hard and finding creative solutions. Eventually, I would like to manage people and help to drive the XR field forward. I not only want to be a leader within my company but within my field as well. XR technology is a more recent technology, and there are still many applications that we have not yet discovered. There is so much good that I could do in my field and within my workplace, and I am thrilled about making that happen.

When I started taking advanced math classes like pre-calculus and trigonometry, I remember thinking that none of the material applied to the real world. Then when I first started calculus, derivatives and integrals seemed useless, and who needed to know about solids of revolution? I could not see how these theoretical graphs had anything to do with the real world. However, when I learned more about calculus, everything started falling into place. The more I learned, the more I realized that calculus was necessary to analyze motion, work, fluid force, and many other aspects of life. Anything that moved, anything that changed or had a variable force- it all involved calculus. Calculus has many direct applications and helps to train your brain to think critically and creatively. Calculus has many applications in the STEM field because those fields often involve studying natural phenomena or construction. If you were trying to analyze the growth of a bacteria culture, you would use calculus. What if you were trying to find the amount of force on an underwater structure or the amount of work it takes to launch a rocket into space? You would, once again, use calculus. Calculus is, at its core, the quantification of change. It has a variety of applications that have uses in fields beyond just STEM. Anywhere that there is change, calculus is needed to describe it mathematically. Even if you do not directly use calculus in your field, learning calculus can help you develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Calculus helps develop these skills because you must analyze the problem before starting to solve it. It also teaches you how to apply mathematical topics to the real world. I once did a project where I found the volume of a flask using only calculus. The project required a lot of problem-solving and critical thinking and showed me how solids of revolution could relate to the world around me. It was a fascinating challenge, which made me love calculus even more. Calculus is a subject that everyone should learn and has many practical applications within the STEM field. Calculus is particularly useful for things related to growth and motion. Biologists and chemists can use it to track exponential growth and reactions, engineers and physicists can use calculus to analyze motion and force, and people who work with technology can use it to simulate real-world conditions and improve their critical thinking skills. Calculus is a fascinating and practical subject that sharpens your problem-solving skills.

In school, when math started going beyond multiplication and computations that made sense in everyday life, most kids started hating it. I, however, loved numerical reasoning and problem-solving, so that was not the case for me. Maybe some of my peers thought it was strange to like such a widely disliked subject, but I could not help but be fascinated by it. It was so intriguing and was also oddly comforting. I had always struggled with social interactions, and the logic and predictability involved in math were much easier to understand. Math captivated me from an early age, and the more I learned, the more I realized just how much there was to know about math, and it enthralled me. However, once I got to high school, math seemed less and less practical. For a couple of years, it felt like I had hit a wall, and I no longer understood why I should be learning the topics I did. Then, last year, I took calculus. Calculus was the quantification of change, and it made me realize how significant math was. Everything on the earth changes at some point or another. Finally, all of those worksheets I thought were useless made sense. All of it was building up to calculus. Learning more about calculus rekindled my fascination and passion for math. This year, I am taking calculus two, and it is incredible how much calculus has to do with the world around me. I have learned how to find the volume of containers using solids of revolution, the work involved in launching a rocket into space, and the amount of fluid force on submerged objects. The problem-solving and critical thinking involved in solving these complicated problems makes me want to learn even more. I have always been intrigued by math and inclined to think logically and mathematically. Math has always been something I have a strong inclination towards, and I intend to always keep learning more.

When I was in middle school, one of the activities I enjoyed most was when my gifted teacher would give us riddles and puzzles to solve. From number sequences to spatial reasoning, I loved having to think creatively to solve a problem. For a long time, I was unsure about what field I wanted to go into. I wanted something that required both intelligence and creativity. When I started coding last year, I found the process of using code to solve a problem fascinating. Then I discovered 3D modeling and the XR field, and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a career that used both coding and creativity. Outside of computer science, I love helping people. It is always my goal to support and encourage others. I enjoy volunteering and leading within my school and community. It can sometimes be hard to make a difference on a large scale, but I believe that just helping out when you can and showing people kindness can have a lot of meaning. Kindness and service are something that I strongly believe in, so I want to use XR technology to help others. Technology is such a powerful tool, and we must use it for the betterment of society instead of for power and profit. Too many times when technology advances, people lose their jobs. Machines are always more efficient and cost-effective than humans. Sometimes, this change can make sense, but there are drawbacks to everything becoming more and more automated. Recently, there has been a wave of "AI" search engines and generators. These are not true artificial intelligence, but it is clear that machine learning has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. These engines have been used to generate images, essays, recipes, programs, screenplays, you name it. Since AI has improved enough to generate more creative outputs that it was not capable of doing before, there is now a threat to artists, writers, and even programmers. While AI may seem capable of creativity, in the end, it is just compiling the information that it has been fed. I believe that it is extremely important to keep human creativity involved in many of these processes. My goal in computer science is to create tools to help people instead of to replace them. XR technology has many practical applications, and it can be used in many ways to help better and even save people's lives. It can be used to train surgeons, improve education, and make construction easier and safer. XR technology can simulate dangerous situations without any risk of people getting hurt. I love virtual environments, immersive technology, and helping people, and my goal is to create tools to keep everyone safer and to advance society.