Tragically, 1.35 million people die in road crashes every year, which is more people than the population of my home state, Rhode Island. Every year countless families mourn the loss of their loved ones from these road accidents which are caused by people driving under the influence, driving while tired, texting and driving, or simply human error. What could possibly be the solution to this enormous loss of life each year? Self-driving cars are the optimal solution to this fatal predicament and I am personally ecstatic for their rapid evolution, which we are witness to today. Technology is constantly improving and with great strides being made recently in machine learning and artificial intelligence, the benefits of self-driving cars will only progressively outweigh those of regular cars more over time. Some of the benefits that excite me most are the self-driving cars' advanced sensors to detect cars when changing lanes, turning, and when cars in front of you brake quickly. The reaction time of computers is much faster than that of humans and this alone will save a multitude of lives. Also, when self-driving cars evolve to the point that the owner does not need to remain vigilant during car rides, people under the influence will be able to safely let their car drive them home as opposed to dangerously operating their car. This excites me significantly because I know many people who have died while driving under the influence or who was killed by someone who was, and I would feel much safer knowing that someone who has had a few to many is not driving their car. In addition, you may be thinking that this would be beneficial but not realistic due to the costs, but as time goes on the prices of self-driving cars will only decrease. For example, Tesla now sells the economy Tesla which is much more affordable for middle-class citizens as opposed to the other Tesla's which were mostly owned by wealthier citizens. Now that I have had my license for about a year, I have realized that driving is sometimes not even the most difficult part. but parking tends to be at times. Whenever I have to parallel park I get very stressed and I have even seen some of my peers hit other cars while doing so. The last aspect of self-driving cars that excites me other than the safety they will bring and the more affordable they are becoming is their convenience. With completely independent self-driving cars, the days of worrying about hitting other cars or blocking traffic for too long when parking is over as they already can precisely park with ease and will only continue to improve. As a result, humans will feel much better with the stress of these situations relieved and so will our insurance rates. Therefore, I am very excited about the continuous evolution of self-driving car due to the increased road safety they will bring, the more affordable they are becoming, and their convenience.

Have you ever spent all your money and then have had an emergency occur? Has there ever been something you really wanted to buy but had no money other than your paycheck? I have experienced these situations multiples times from dropping my phone and shattering the screen to wanting to buy the new Xbox to play with my friends. Then in my Algebra 2 math class, my teacher gave me some very simple financial advice that changed my life. She told me that emergency costs cannot be planned for so I should open a savings account that has no minimum balance or fees and just deposit at least $10 each week. For the wants, she told me to use the envelope budgeting method and also put a few dollars in that envelope every week. In no time after following her advice, I began accumulating money that I would have otherwise spent. In addition, I began making additional money from the interest the bank paid me simply by keeping my money in the account! This financial advice is very simple but I feel as though it should be spread to everyone as early as junior high because it can save you in times of crisis and help you afford things that may seem too expensive for you to buy. Especially in today's society, where the marketing is so aggressive with advertisements every few minutes during videos on streaming services, pop-up advertisements, advertisements on your social media accounts targeted directly towards you from the algorithms analyzing your data, and more. In conclusion, the act of saving needs to be exhibited more in schools and life because of the benefits such as passive income and emergency funds.

Imagine waking up next to your significant other in a large luxurious house with no worries, no debt, and a career you love. Then you get ready for work and get into your Tesla for another day at Tesla's headquarters as a software engineer. This is my dream as an aspiring computer scientist. Globally, 1.3 million people on average die a year in car accidents due to plenty of reasons ranging from human error, texting, driving under the influence, or even a car's parts malfunctioning. I want to help change the world by improving the programming of self-driving cars and eliminating driving-related deaths. Tesla's are great now especially since they do not use gasoline like most cars which benefit the environment, but they sometimes malfunction and require the driver to remain vigilant at all times. If these cars were flawlessly designed after many iterations then people under the influence, exhausted people, and elderly people with impaired eyesight could all relax instead of putting themselves and others at risk. While this dream is merely just a dream, I believe if I continue persevering and working hard I can be part of it. With the rapid evolutions of technology and the prices for economy Teslas decreasing this could become a reality in the next few decades and not some magical fantasy. In addition, senior software engineers $112,600 a year in the United States which is more than enough for me and my future family as I have learned to make due spending my younger years with my single mother in section 8 housing. Therefore, my dream is not only to live a comfortable life as a successful software engineer but to save the lives of the 3,287 people a day who die in car accidents and the heartbreak their loved ones endure.

Suddenly, you feel nauseous, you begin to sweat profusely, tears pour down your cheeks, but you are still numb from the shock of the impending fate that your loved one is going to die. This is what I felt as I eavesdropped on my dad who was on the phone with my grandma, who was telling her children her cancer has returned and she had no more fight in her. After a year and a half long battle with a malicious stomach cancer, where she was told three separate times many months apart she had beaten the cancer, the doctors informed her that it spread throughout her entire body and there was nothing else they could do except delay the inevitable. The countless months vomiting and losing her hair from chemotherapy and the suffering from having almost her entire stomach gutted to contain the spread was seemingly all for nothing. Although she just learned that her life was going to end, she stayed strong and kept a smile on her face until the very end. Proceeding her death I could not think straight. My mind was flooded with sadness, memories of her like at every single one of my sporting events where she would always say afterward "Connie I will always be your number one fan", and anger at the doctors for not saving her because I felt as though I needed to place the blame somewhere. One night as I was laying there with these thoughts racing through my head like a video on repeat I came to the realization that this is not what my strong grandmother would have wanted me to do. She would want me to wipe the tears from my face, get myself together, and work hard for my goals. Throughout her obstacle-filled life she supported two kids with no child support as a single mother, she worked hard to make money so she could support her friends and family, and after all this she went to the gym every day to burn off the weight from the stress of all of it up until the chemotherapy made her incapable. From this realization four years ago to this day, what matters most to me is to one day be able to support my family and friends just like my grandma once did. Before I was taken from my mother's house to my father's due to witnessing her being strangled multiple times by boyfriends and her alcohol addiction, I witnessed her struggle every day financially. She was scared whether we would be evicted again or if we would be able to eat that night. Now that she has recovered from her addiction and is free from her abusers I want nothing more than to help her as she still struggles with money. I know if my grandma was alive she would help my mother even though she is her son's ex and since she cannot, I want to be the one to do it. My father is more financially stable than her as he works a stable job with DCYF, but with the recent diagnosis that my baby brother, Max, is autistic the costs are beginning to pile up as he begins early intervention. I cannot thank my dad enough for what he saved me from at my mother's and seeing all of these expenses making him have to work excessive overtimes makes me feel guilty because I am not doing enough. If my grandma was still alive she would without a doubt help my father out and ease the burden on his shoulders, and just like her, I want to be the one to do it. Since 9th grade, I have had anxiety about how I am going to manage my student debt and the last thing I want to do is ask my parents who already have a lot on their minds for help. Now in 12th grade, I have worked hard, just like my grandma would have, and through many grueling honors, dual-enrollment, and AP classes I will have accumulated around 60 college credits at the end of my senior year and maintained high honors. The entire time I was taking these classes and became overwhelmed I thought to myself, "What would Grammy do?", and got right back to work because I knew she would do anything for her family. Also, I gave away most of my time this summer to participate in an internship on a research and development team so I could gain early experience with the field I want to pursue, computer science, because my grandma would want me to get ahead in life like that so I can help my family. Therefore, I will "fight" hard until I can support my family just like my grandma, my hero.