As a first-generation Asian American, coming from a low-income household, and the first to go to college in my family, nothing has been more important to me than pursuing higher education. As a child, I promised myself that I would take advantage of my resources to be the first one to go and pursue that higher education. I’ve always seen higher education as an opportunity to escape the lower class and open a door to new changes that are not possible without a degree. In the upcoming fall, I will be a freshman at UCSD, majoring in Math-CS. Computer science was always a subject that I enjoyed at school, and although I did not have access to a computer at home, there were always public libraries and school programs that would allow me the opportunity to chase after this “hobby.” It would become more than a hobby when I took my first programming class in middle school and became enthralled by the positive impact that coding has on people’s lives. In high school, I learned that my coding capabilities could be used for the better. I used my knowledge in building websites and applications, ranging from themes of climate awareness and COVID-19 mental support. Doing this made me realize that as much as I loved Computer Science, I loved using my skills and giving back to the people around me more. This is why I follow my ambitions of Computer Science. I want to expand my realm of CS knowledge and code even better applications and websites that can reach a larger audience. Even better, I want technology to become accessible to anybody. With the STEM field expanding, it allows for the socioeconomic gap in technology to lessen and allows more people to find an interest in CS. I am hopeful for what I can do with the knowledge I will gain at college; however, the financial burden of tuition is my biggest struggle. Both my parents make very little of an income, so their financial support is limited. My university is also very far away from my area of residence, so I have no choice but to dorm at the school. Even with the combinations of loans, financial grants, and work-study, my tuition is still too much for me to afford. I need this scholarship because I don’t want to let go of my dream of receiving a higher education. My passion is to create my own software company and give back to those who desire to pursue higher education to also give back to the communities around them, whether it be through providing technology, classes, or even scholarships like this one. Thank you.

For my eighth birthday, my mother gifted me a journal. She told me to write all of my thoughts in the journal and so I did. I used my journal to draw models of robots and human symbiosis. Back then, these different models were mere aspirations I had for the future, and I would sometimes ponder whether these models I doodled were ever going to be attainable in my lifetime. Today, artificial intelligence is merely surfacing; however, I promised my younger self that in this lifetime I will live out to be the one who develops such artificial intelligence programs. In retrospect, that journal was the catalyst for the beginning of my vocation towards technology, specifically how technology is able to work. Growing up with a Computer Technician father, computer hardware became a niche for me; however, the curiosity inside of me desired to understand how it all corresponded with each other. Thus, I began to explore Computer Science only on my own and was intrigued to find that my middle school had offered coding classes. Moving forward, I realized that Computer Science had been a subconscious ambition of mine up until then, so I decided to pursue that ambition and took Computer Science classes at my high school and will be graduating high school with a completed CTE CS Pathways Certification. Through that process, I realized what code was capable of and was reminded of the promise I made to my younger self. Yet, how could a high school student-built such artificial intelligence programs? However, outside of my academic drive for CS, I am an advocate for our Earth with events such as Protect The Arctic, the Amazon and Australian Fires, and the Anti-Plastic Campaign, and founded the first environmental club at my school. Educating myself with our dire climate emergencies, I desired to use what I am capable of to alleviate such a crisis. What came to mind? Computer Science. Though not with the same journal, I came up with an idea to write AI programs that will reduce the amount of litter and plastic debris we see in our communities. The program would be adaptive and implement neuro sensors to allow the AIs to detect such refuse in communities and process them on the spot to produce sustainable human products. This would not only aid the littering problem of our Earth, which contributes to global warming through carbon emissions but also prevent such plastics from ending up in oceans, turning into microplastics that hurt not only the wildlife but us. The only way to fulfill such a promise was to take that inherent drive of mine and continue it to college with a Computer Science major. By doing so, I will be able to smile at my younger self and tell her, "I did it. I developed the first climate-saving artificial intelligence program for OUR Mother Earth!"

Hands trembling as I steady my camera. Through the screen, I stare into the crowd of people. I helped organize this 2019 Climate Strike, and I just spoke in front of these people about our dire climate crisis. This one local climate strike being the catalyst for those around the world to perceive the importance to preserve our Earth and how many of us will fight for it. Snap! One photo is taken, the photo emblematic of my first, but not last, organized climate strike where together, we stand as a community to be the voice for Mother Nature!