Early on, I saw how easy it was for curiosity to get lost in day-to-day schoolwork, where exploring science and engineering was often replaced by repetitive worksheets and reading drills. That’s what led me to join Science in the Community Club in ninth grade, where we hosted “STEMbrations” at local elementary schools, running hour-long sustainable-themed activities like water filtration, solar kits, and more. As I watched students explore each table of activities, I recognized the value was in the experience, not just the tangible aspects. When their eyes sparkled after discovering something, I spotted the same enthusiasm that first drew me to STEM. This drove me to engage more and become secretary, vice president, and now president. Despite the effort necessary to run the club, my role is not about me. I’ve made it my mission to create space for kids to ask questions and explore sustainability/environmental problems in a way that sticks with them. My involvement in this club early in high school bolstered my interest in creating tangible change in the environment. In 10th grade, I began a three-year research project where I designed and built an electric-field assisted crossflow filtration system. This is an innovative approach to advanced filtration of organic chemicals/pollutants by adding an electric field to a membrane-filtration system. However, when I first started, I wasn't able to get access to the filter itself, so I ended up building it in my house out of recycled materials such as a Kids WaterPik and my dad's fish tank tubing. It took months of planning, gathering materials, and executing ideas to finally run and test it. My results not only supported my hypotheses, where an improved fouling ratio, flow rate, and permeate flux suggested greater productivity, but also supported the idea that advanced filtration may not need to be as costly as previously assumed. This could mean such filtration can be more widely accessible to people around the world. Currently, I'm working on incorporating solar power to reduce energy costs. In March of 2026, I competed at RPI's annual Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair. I not only advanced my project to the NY state level by winning the Stockholm Water Prize, but I also won 1st Place Grand Prize out of hundreds of projects. This qualified me to compete in Pheonix, AZ in May of 2026 at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in the project category of "Environmental Engineering". I was incredibly excited that my homemade filtration system was not only successful, but also unique enough to bring me to an international competition where a select 1800 researchers present their projects. However, the best part of this experience was knowing I made an impact on the future environmental research. I hope that my study has broader, real-world applications and can make advanced filtration more affordable and accessible to everyone. Additionally, last year, I created an animated Earth Day film shown to over 350 students and faculty at Geyser Road Elementary School and across the Saratoga Springs School District. I’ve also spent many hours in Naturalists Club, helping recycle around the school every Monday. Over the summer, I completed RPI's PREFACE Nuclear Engineering Program, where I learned about nuclear energy, why it's sustainable, and I even got to visit a real nuclear power plant. These experiences showed me how STEM can make a real-world impact on people and their environment. However, water protection is my primary passion; it always has been. Besides doing a research project on water filtration and narrowing my interests on pollution, I truly take time to enjoy the local water bodies. A great memory I have is the summers during elementary and middle school, where my dad and I would go fishing in local lakes. We would spend our days in the hot sun, me with my pink rod, sitting by the lake and absorbing its beauty. Pollution is an imminent threat to the environment in which I spent most of my childhood in and therefore efforts to mend it are important to me. As I plan to major in engineering at RPI, I’m particularly interested in predictive maintenance systems that require sustainability/reliability. By anticipating possible failures, there'd be less wasted resources, longer life spans, and lower environmental impact. I hope to design technologies that are both innovative and responsible, and with the help of this scholarship, I’d be much closer to my dreams!