When I was younger, I was bullied. My bully was smart; she was subtle in the way she would pick on me. She didn’t do it out in the open; she did it in the places where no one was watching. The shoving would occur in hallways where teachers weren’t present. In front of everyone, she would only do small things like step on the back of my shoe so that I would have to pull my sock up and put my foot back in my shoe. Her strategy kept her out of the limelight. If I reported her attacks, it would look as though I was blowing it out of proportion. She bullied like a cyberbully. You can’t report a cyberbully to the principal. One of my dearest friends was a victim of cyberbullying. If we ever posted a picture of ourselves together, her bully would, somehow, always find the photo and say rude, antagonizing, and degrading things to her. You can’t tell that to a trusted adult, as they would be as powerless as you. When you are online, you are alone. You can press “report” and “block” as often as you’d like, but that’s never enough. The bully doesn’t back down. The bully doesn’t rethink their actions and decide to leave you alone. That bully stands their ground and gets smarter. The bully makes new accounts and finds any other way to make your life a living hell. The bullying pushed my friend to thoughts and fantasies about suicide. I don’t want anyone to ever go through what my friend went through. My parents are middle-class, so they don’t get much aid, and they don’t get enough money to pay for our college expenses. My sister, luckily, got a full-ride scholarship from the church. Unlike her, I dare to go out of state and burden myself with even greater costs because I want to learn from the very best. I don’t want the cost of university to be an anchor that drags me down, though. This scholarship, this safe space to condemn the way people plug their ears, roll their eyes, or laugh out loud when the topic of cyberbullying is mentioned, will allow me to spread my wings. I apply to this scholarship not only because $1000 would be very helpful to put towards the overwhelmingly extreme costs of out-of-state college, but also because I am passionate about this topic. I am grateful that this scholarship has given me an opportunity to spread awareness about this serious issue.

I want to be an astronaut. My grandma was a maid. She worked as a maid for a family of another woman. My grandma had no education. She stopped school at kindergarten. My mother and father came to America to get a better life for me. They came to America because they believed in the future of my siblings and me and because they wanted to give us the life they weren’t afforded in Nigeria. All the while they toiled and struggled adjusting to America, they kept their faith in God intact. They never forsook their love for god. They had faith that, although racism was rampant and although they didn’t have a lot of money, he would give them and their children a new, beautiful life. They believed in God. My parents, alongside my siblings and I, have attended Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church since they came to Arizona. My parents worked side hustles, but eventually they found good, stable jobs. They always prayed that God would provide for them what they needed, and God did. God brought my father and mother from an apartment to a two-story house. God gave my father promotion after promotion. God strengthened my mother as she carried me in her stomach while she studied to become a nurse. We are proudly active members of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. After my incessant urges, my siblings and I were baptized on November 12, 2023. God blessed my family when my older sister earned a full-ride scholarship from Pilgrim Rest. God can perform wonders. I joyfully volunteer at my church. I love to pass out food to those who aren’t so blessed. I like to give because God gave me. I like to bless others because God has blessed me. He gave my parents gave me a better life than the ones my parents had, so every Sunday I happily package food. I package backpacks for kids who come from homes where God-fearing activities don’t take place so often. I am grateful for all that god gave to me. I want to be an astronaut because I am enchanted by the beautiful universe God created. I am amazed by the twinklings stars and the rick vastness of space and the perfect blue ball we call Earth. I love how god expertly designed his creation to hold life, and I want to be study astronomy because I want to study the miracle that God created. I want to study his creation every day of my life. The experience of gazing at the stars is religious to me. Help me. Fund my education, so that I can give glory to the Most High. Fund my education so that I can say thank you to my parents who sacrificed the safety and comfort of their former lives in Nigeria, and trusted that God, whilst breaking their backs, would give me the opportunities that I have today. Fund my education, so that through my career I can give glory to God.

“Clay many nickels!” she remarked – a phrase we all say after something impressive happens. Lea sprints out of the lab to inform the others. “Ardus,” I whisper. The mauronaut suit we’ve been working on for the past six months rises. A mauronaut (pronounced m – air – o – not) suit is an astronaut suit, tweaked and optimised for deep-sea – as opposed to deep-space – exploration. A decent mauronaut suit has been nothing but science fiction – until now. A hurdle of roboticists stampede into the lab. “Does the Nueracane integration work?” Nueracane (pronounced neer - a - chain) is a company that develops extraneous brain chips. In 2075, Nueracane swallowed Nueralink in a merger. “Is the EI responsive?” EI stands for enhanced intelligence. EI is different from AI because EI is developed using biological matter and quantum computing while AI uses only mechanical parts and typically uses classical computing. AI is a machine; EI is a superhuman. “Have you tested its autonomous emergency response system?” “Did you try her on?” “All my software and hardware will be tested shortly,” Ardus (the EI built into our first mauronaut suit) replies. Gukesh drops his clipboard. Adaeze squeals. It’s not rare or surprising to hear “things” talk. The train talks; the plane talks; the trash talks; the toilet talks. Everything has enhanced intelligence - depending on where you live of-course. If you don’t work as hard as everyone else and don’t contribute as much to society as everyone else, then your life will be more digital. My coworkers are excited because this is the first time Ardus has worked with the mauronaut suit. “Connect to Ardus,” I command intranuerosly. Intranuerosly is an adjective used to describe dialogue that occurs within one’s mind; it is most commonly used to describe commands given to chips. Linguistically, the word intranuerosly was developed around 2036. “I am connected to Chiamaka’s nuchip,” states Ardus extranuerosly. “Incredible!” gushes China. Adaeze pushes her right ear into the side of her head and then blinks twice to call Zelu. “Ardus is galvanised, ready for critical testing,” Adaeze declares. Zelu’s hologram gazes at the mauronaut suit. “I have disconnected from Chiamaka’s nuchip. I am now connected to Zelu’s nuchip,” Ardus beams. “You’re taking her away already?” Chiamaka quips. “Her hardware was perfect. Now that the software is running smoothly, I’ll take Ardus in for the experimental trials. Next month or so, we will release her to the public. Good work, everyone,” Zelu starts to clap as her hologram fades out. We continue clapping, and Ardus rolls out of the door and to the R Building. The R Building is where devices go to be pen-tested and made secure against cybersecurity attacks. If a rogue unauthorised party gets control over a single mauronaut suit on a deep-sea mission, that could be disastrous. “Connect to Erno. Get me a mac & cheese bacon sandwich from Grill’z,” I tell my personal assistant, Erno, intranuerosly. He wheels away. I groan as I stand up and walk towards my teammates, who are all huddled together, to socialise. “Guys, I can’t believe we actually did this. God, I knew the problem was in the Ardus’s coding, not the suits.” “Yo, we are totally gonna beat South America. None of their suits gave mauronauts the ability to exist outside of submarines.” I smile as I listen to their words. We just changed the world, and it was so fun. I love coding so much because I love solving problems. It took everything. It took sleepless nights, but it was worth it. I also smile as I think about my upcoming space trip around Mars with my wife. It’s the perfect 2nd honeymoon. *** I sit. I sit on the dirty sidewalk. The sun curses me. The sun snarls at me. I wish the sun would eat me. I wish I were a block of ice that the sun could evaporate away. I was fired today. They didn’t need me to serve food anymore. Apparently, the clanker is a better cook than me. God! This world is so dystopic. Everything is about machines now. I heard they just developed an autonomous mauronaut suit. My kid is dying. My daughter has sickle cell. She is always sick, and I can’t help her. There are more treatment options now than there were 50 years ago, but they are incredibly expensive. Seeing that I am out of work, I definitely can’t afford them. I was gonna buy food today, but I just remembered that my rent is due. All I do day in and day out is work and then come home and try to comfort my daughter. She constantly howls as she’s always in pain for one reason or another. I can feel a panic attack kicking in. Recently, there was a protest. I didn’t have the energy to stomp around all day, and about 5 percent of protesters per protest are killed by drones, so I didn’t go. It’s hard to organise good protests, too, because all Nueracane traffic is monitored by the government. Every protest is expected and prepared for. The drones already man the skies before the protesters even get their. “Buy Valina Water, 100% nature made,” the AI ad tells me. I hate Nueracane. I can’t afford the standard version; I can only afford the guilty version (free), so every 30 minutes, a new ad is whispered into my ear. I can always remove my nuchip; it’s like a sticker, but I need it. It provides much-needed distractions from day-to-day life (for example, it can simulate the feeling of sex even when you’re just by yourself. I have no friends. Everything is self- (e.g self-checkout, self-tour, self-serve). If you do anything illegal, the cameras will just catch you, and the clankers will deal with you. I see people all the time, but rarely do I ever chat with anyone. “Music,” I request intranuerosly. I get up and walk home.