Have you ever had an interaction that made you question yourself? Sometimes people don’t mean harm from their words, but that one comment can stick with you for eternity. I have had to experience this many times when discussing my career goals. Every time I engage in conversations about what I go to school for I always receive a similar reaction. They ask “ What do you study in college?” and I reply “ Chemical Engineering. I hope to use my degree in pharmaceutical practices one day.” A shocked facial expression always pops up followed by belittling comments. Most people say “ Oh wow. I would not have guessed that” while some take it as far to say,” Oh my. So you must be a brilliant girl.” The tone of the conversation always changes after the question is answered; almost to a more respectful one. Most people would be thrilled about responses to their aspirations like that but I wasn't. Those types of interactions show how little faith people have in a woman’s ability, especially a black woman. People often react as if they are thrown off by my career choice. Why is it so shocking that a woman wants to become a chemical engineer? In addition, why does my career path make you address me differently? People often react like this because it is not common and I do not blame them. At one point the world tried to convince me that a woman being an engineer was not normal either. At one point I realized none of the engineers I had met looked like me. I had not met a woman or black engineer until middle school. It conflicted with me that I had such passion to pursue this career but was scared since I did not see anyone like me. 7 year old me thought to myself this is not your career because it is predominantly white males. The statistics say that about 30% of engineers are women, and on top of that only 3.5% of engineers are African American. Those are small numbers, which shows how underrepresented black women are in the STEM field. Even with those barriers I am attending a historically black university majoring in chemical engineering. To know that I have already beaten the statistics of making it this far only motivates me even more to finish. In chemical engineering I see myself contributing to finding cures for diseases. My ultimate dream would be to help with a cure for Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks. Witnessing my great-grandmother deal with this my whole life motivated me to help people like her. While I will be helping out people like her who suffer from these diseases I also hope to contribute to the representation of African Americans by showing how dedicated I am to break the norm of black women in engineering. I hope that the impact I will make on the world due to my hard work will shift people's perspectives and make people more open and excited about women in the STEM fields. This scholarship would allow me to continue being a high-achieving scholar by lessening my financial burden while also allowing me to get rid of negative stereotypes about black women in STEM.

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be an engineer. As a child, I met quite a few engineers but yet for some reason, I felt discouraged. At one point I almost felt wrong for wanting to be an engineer for multiple reasons. It was considered virtually impossible in my case at the time. At 9 months the doctors informed my family that I have ocular albinism which is a condition that affects my pigment and my vision. Because of this, I have nystagmus, also known as dancing eyes. This vision impairment is typical in people who have albinism. Although doctors felt glasses could help as a treatment my family was told that I would be legally blind. The doctors explained how I would never be able to drive, play sports, easily succeed academically, or live a normal childhood. With the help of God, my family, and my perseverance I have accomplished everything my family was told was impossible. At one point I noticed that none of the engineers I had met looked like me. I had not met a woman or a black engineer until middle school. It conflicted with me that I had such a passion to pursue this career but was scared since I did not see anyone like me. 7 year old me thought to myself this is not your career because it is predominantly white males. The statistics say that about 30% of engineers are women, and on top of that only 3.5% of engineers are African American. Those are low numbers, which shows how underrepresented black women are in the STEM field. Even with those barriers I am attending a historically black university majoring in chemical engineering. To know that I have already beaten the statistics of making it this far only motivates me even more to finish. In chemical engineering I see myself contributing to finding cures for diseases. My ultimate dream would be to help with a cure for Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks. Witnessing my great-grandmother deal with this my whole life motivated me to help people out in the world like her. While I will be helping out people like her who suffer from these diseases I also hope to contribute to the representation of African Americans by showing how dedicated I am to breaking the norm of black women in engineering. I hope that the impact I will make on the world due to my hard work will shift people's perspectives and make people more open and excited about women in the STEM fields.

Have you ever had an interaction that made you question yourself? I know sometimes people don’t mean harm from their words, but that one comment can stick with you for eternity. I have had to experience this many times when talking about my career goals. Every time I engage in conversations about what I go to school for I always receive a similar reaction. They ask “ What do you study in college?” and I reply “ Chemical Engineering. One day I hope to use my degree in pharmaceutical practices one day.” A shocked facial expression always pops up followed by belittling comments. Most people say “ Oh wow. I would not have guessed that” while some take it as far to say,” Oh my. So you must be a brilliant girl.” The tone of the conversation always changes after the question is answered; almost to a more respectful one. Most people would be thrilled people respond to their aspirations like that but I do not like it. Those types of interactions show how little faith people have in a woman’s ability, especially a black woman. People often react as if they are thrown off by my career choice. Why is it so shocking that a woman wants to become a chemical engineer? In addition, why does my career path make you address me differently? People often react like this because it is out of the norm for them, and I do not blame them. At one point the world tried to convince me that a woman being an engineer was not normal either. At one point I started to notice how none of the engineers I had met looked like me. I had not met a woman or even a black engineer until I was in middle school. It conflicted me that I had such passion to pursue this career but I was scared since I did not see anyone like me. 7 year old me thought to myself this is not your career because it is predominantly white males. The statistics say that about 30% of engineers are women, and on top of that only 3.5% of engineers are African American. Those are very low numbers, which shows how underrepresented black women are in the STEM field. Even with those barriers I am attending a historically black university majoring in chemical engineering. To know that I have already beaten the statistics of making it this far only motivates me even more to finish. In chemical engineering I see myself contributing to finding cures for diseases. My ultimate dream would be to help with a cure for Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks. Witnessing my great-grandmother deal with this my whole life motivated me to help people out there like her. While I will be helping out people like her who suffer from these diseases I also hope to contribute to the representation of African Americans by showing how dedicated I am to break the norm of black women in engineering. I hope that the impact I will make on the world due to my hard work will shift people's perspectives and make people more open and excited about women in the stem work fields.

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be an engineer. Wanting to be an engineer may sound normal to most but it was considered almost impossible in my case at the time. I was not born into the most financially stable situation with my father being gone and my mom being a teenager when she had me.At 9 months the doctors informed my family that I have ocular albinism which is a condition that affects my pigment and my vision. Because of this, I have nystagmus also known as dancing eyes. This vision impairment is typical in people who have albinism. Although doctors felt glasses could help as a treatment my family was told that I would be legally blind. The doctors explained how I would never be able to drive, play sports, easily succeed academically or live a normal childhood. With the help of God, my family, and my own perseverance I have accomplished everything my family was told was not possible. From a young age I was always very skillful in math and science. I liked the idea of inventing things. This interest heightened due to the fact my life has always involved technology . Whether it was homework on a computer or my favorite online game at home.All of the diverse engineering experience I have gained propelled me to determine I want to be a chemical engineer. As a chemical engineer I would hope to find cures to diseases.My inspiration in choosing this path stems from witnessing my great grandmother deal with alzheimer's my whole life.I hope to contribute to social sustainability by showing how dedicated I am to breaking the norm of black women in engineering. I hope that the impact I will make on the world due to my hard work will shift peoples perspectives and make people be more open and excited about women in the stem work fields. One of my goals is to encourage young kids to be the best they can be and letting them see african american woman in career fields where we are less in majority it is a great way to encourage them. The statistics say that about 30% of engineers are women , and on top of that only 3.5% of engineers are African American. Those are very low numbers , which shows how underrepresented black women are in the stem field. Even with those barriers I am attending Clark Atlanta University majoring in chemical engineering. To know that I have already beaten the statistics of making it this far only motivates me even more to finish.

As a child most people develop many aspirations for their future. Sometimes these dreams we’ve created end up coming to life, and other times these interests fade away. In my case I have always known two things, I wanted to be an engineer and I want to attend a HBCU for college. Wanting to be an engineer may sound normal to most but it was considered almost impossible in my case at the time.I was not born into the most financially stable situation with my father being gone and my mom being a teenager when she had me. At 9 months the doctors informed my family that I have ocular albinism which is a condition that affects my pigment and my vision. Because of this, I have nystagmus also known as dancing eyes. This vision impairment is typical in people who have albinism. Although doctors felt glasses could help as a treatment my family was told that I would be legally blind. The doctors explained how I would never be able to drive, play sports, easily succeed academically or live a normal childhood. With the help of God, my family, and my own perseverance I have accomplished everything my family was told was not possible. I was able to have an amazing childhood and then get a 4.0 gpa as a freshman in college. To know that I have already beaten the statistics of making it this far only motivates me even more to finish. In chemical engineering I see myself contributing to finding cures for diseases. My ultimate dream would be to help with a cure for Alzheimer's. Alzheimers is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually the ability to carry out simple task. Witnessing my great grandmother deal with this my whole life really motivated me to help people out there like her. While I will be helping out people like her that suffer from these diseases I also hope to contribute to the representation of African Americans by showing how dedicated I am to breaking the norm of black women in engineering. I hope that the impact I will make on the world due to my hard work will shift peoples perspectives and make people be more open and excited about women in the stem work fields. Since I realized this was my passion, I have devoted myself to making that happen.

For as long as I can remember I have always knew I had an attraction to females, but I also knew I was in a very christian family. I did not think it was possible to believe in the word of god and still like girls because everyone made me feel so wrong about it for a long time. I have the most loving family ever but knew that eventually these 2 parts of my life would intertwine. Although I knew they would cross I never knew how. This was extremely scary to the younger version of myself, especially since I had no guidance. I did not know anybody that was similar to me so i felt like such a black sheep. In 5th grade my family and I joined a new church, and from then on things felt different. I did not feel like I was being judged ever, which I had never seen from church people before. As time went on I grew closer to god due to me being in church all the time. My pastor was very fundamental in this process of me getting comfortable. At the time I met him I did not know he was apart of the lgbtqia+ community, but yet I instantly felt connected to him for some reason. He taught me how your bond with god should be based on relationship and not religion, he believed that all people mattered to god. I had never met someone who had such strong faith in god while also being such an open understanding person. I started to talk to him, to trust him, to truly love him and it felt amazing. He showed me how even people like myself deserve the same chance of having a relationship with god and a sexuality of their own choice at the same time. I hate how there is this false narrative that people apart of the LGBTQ + do not have good spirits. When I was younger I thought that it wasn’t possible to do both but I realized I am allowed to love who I want to love without it reflecting my faith. Now I am very involved in my church community but also very comfortable in my own skin. My faith is stronger than it has ever been and I aim to continue to grow that bond. Thanks to my pastor, I am now confident in myself enough to encourage others to find their self love just like he did for me.

I strongly believe in the idea that you have to be the change you want to see in the world, or more specifically in your community. If nobody ever takes the initiative to fix the unjust things then we will never see growth in our society. Because of these beliefs, I have dedicated myself to finding a way to contribute to this and I did. I attended DSST Stapleton for middle school and while there I learned that our school was named after Ben Stapleton. Ben Stapleton is the former mayor of Denver and was also a KKK member. I took it on as my job to get rid of this negative stigma behind my school's name. With me being an african american I believed that people like me deserved to feel safe here so I wanted to take action. I wrote an essay that received a lot of attention. The attention continued to grow and grow until it became an actual conversation. My essay gained so much attention that it opened up the idea for the school's name to be changed. The name change was far from an easy process. First I was doing 9 news interviews which then turned into radio talk show interviews. Then from there, my campaign was gaining national attention so I was then interviewed and featured in a New York Times article. Later on, a local teacher then quoted me in a book she wrote called I Wish For Change by Kyle Schwartz. After months of hard work I was able to present my idea to the school board and after multiple meetings, they finally agreed to my idea. We then came up with the name DSST: Montview and less than a year later it was changed. This was an amazing accomplishment for me but I did not want to end it there, I wanted to continue helping others. 2 days a week I go to King Baptist Daycare and tutor elementary school kids in math, which I plan to continue doing throughout the summer until I leave for college. The time I have spent so far doing this has made me grow a passion for tutoring. Seeing how much I have been able to encourage the kids I tutor now makes me want to be able to reach more students who may be needing help. A majority of the children I tutor come from places where they are not able to receive that type of help so it is very significant for them. Now when I go to the daycare center to tutor the children get excited and will drop everything they are doing to do their work with me. There have been times when some students decided to stay inside with me and work on extra work instead of going outside to play, which makes me feel like I am making a difference.

I strongly believe in the idea that you have to be the change you want to see in the world, or more specifically in your community. If nobody ever does acts of kindness then we will never see growth in our society. Because of these beliefs, I have dedicated myself to finding a way to make an impact on people. 2 days a week I go to King Baptist Daycare and tutor elementary school kids in math, which I plan to continue doing throughout the summer until I leave for college. The time I have spent so far doing this, has made me grow a passion for tutoring. Seeing how much I have been able to encourage the kids I tutor now makes me want to be able to reach more students who may be needing help. A majority of the children I tutor come from places where they are not able to receive that type of help so it is very significant for them. Now when I go to the daycare center to tutor the children get excited and will drop everything they are doing to do their work with me. There have been times when some students decided to stay inside with me and work on extra work instead of going outside to play, which makes me feel like I am making a difference. On top of that, this experience has taught me to believe in myself and be strong because others see that and it gives them hope also. This has been a very important lesson for me especially with me going off to college soon, and I hope to continue through college with this new realization. With that being said I will be attending Clark Atlanta University. In my case, I have always known I wanted to attend an HBCU for college. Since then I have devoted myself to making that happen. I have always academically succeeded and knew that wouldn't be the obstacle I had to overcome, but instead would be finances. I was raised in a single-parent household which has been surviving off of a lower middle-class income.this fall will be majoring in chemical engineering. While there I will be receiving my engineering degree through a dual enrollment program which will allow me to have a degree from Clark and Georgia Tech University. In chemical engineering I see myself contributing to finding cures for diseases. My ultimate dream would be to help with a cure for Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks. Witnessing my great-grandmother deal with this my whole life really motivated me to help people out there like her. My mom and I did not want finances to hinder my chance to attend Clark Atlanta University after all of my achievements.We have both attempted to prevent that. My mom is working multiple jobs in an attempt to be able to afford this opportunity for me and I worked throughout my junior and senior year to save money for college. I have also applied to numerous scholarships. Unfortunately many have not been awarded in my favor. This scholarship would allow me to continue being a high-achieving scholar by lessening my financial burden while also allowing me the experiences I have longed for.

"I alone can't change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples". This is a quote given by Mother Teresa that I did not understand well as a child. How could one person have any big effect in the world if they are only one voice? That's a question I often thought about and was not able to get my answer until it came to play in my own life. I discovered that people make change by having determination and hope no matter if it's in a group or an individual. Once you find something you are passionate about there is a chance you could make a change but only if you are determined to. With that being said my greatest accomplishment is that I was able to get a school renamed due to the racist history behind the name. I attended a school called Denver School of Science and Technology ( Dsst) . There are multiple campuses so each is named after its community. I attended the Stapleton campus , so our school was called DSST:Stapleton. While there I learned that our school was named after Ben Stapleton. Ben Stapleton was the mayor of Denver for two periods and also served as a Ku Klux Klan member. After hearing that I took it on as my job to find a way get rid of this negative stigma behind the school's name. With me being an African American I believe that people like me deserve to feel safe here and not be reminded of this horrible past. I decided to write an essay, and it ended up receiving a lot of attention. The attention continued to grow and grow to the point I was asked to speak out more on this topic. From there I did a 9 news interview, was on a local radio talk show, got quoted in a book , and was even interviewed and featured in a New York Times article. It was mind blowing, I had never imaged seeing my name in a New York Times article. Although it was a very exciting thing, I knew this was only the beginning. After months of hard work I was able to present my idea to the school board. After 3 meetings with the board eventually the idea to change the name was approved. From there we brainstormed ideas together and then surveyed them to the school. The name DSST Montview was then decided on. This experience taught me to truly believe in myself and work towards what I want because anything is possible. Me speaking up encouraged others who also cared about the same issue to speak up because the neighborhood was changed also shortly after this project. I also learned I like to help people. Because I like to help people I am pursuing a chemical engineering degree which I will use to create medicines and cures.