I have never felt more nervous in all my life. The chatter of the crowd and the footsteps of the judges are the only things that I hear as I anxiously await the chime of the timer. I run through the plan again and again: what code to use when, what attachments are needed, and what starting positions the robot needs to be in. At last, the judges indicate they are ready, and the moment has come to show everyone what our team’s robot can do. BEEEEP. And it begins; the rush of thrill and excitement that comes with operating a robot in the middle of a heated competition. I eventually aged out of the robotic competitions. I missed the challenge and creativity and wanted to share my fondness for coding and robotics with others. It was at a FIRST Championship at a technology expo that I was first introduced to the world of medical technology. I was enthralled with the medical research and devices that existed out there. It was then that I knew I wanted to go into the medical research field in some capacity. I have always loved helping people and science and math have always been subjects that interest me. Biology and chemistry are two of my favorite subjects in school. A career in medical research and specifically studying microbiology, immunology, and bioinfomatics merges all these interests together. In this field, I want to perform research with vaccines or medicines. I want to develop these new technologies to advance the field of medicine, as there is still so much out there to improve in curing diseases and helping people heal from injuries. Conducting research in this field combines everything I would want in a career. I would like to research ways to make existing innovations more stable in a wider variety of environments in my future career, allowing medicines and treatments to be more widely accessible not only nationwide but across the world. It is necessary that these treatments gain a longer shelf life if people in more remote regions are to access them as well as others do. I believe that this is an important stride towards giving all people an equal opportunity to access these beneficial and often life-changing treatments, regardless of geography. I want to be part of this solution. I want to help empower others to take a bigger role in their medical care, by helping to offer accessibility and affordability in treatments for their health needs. To achieve this goal, I am attending the Rochester Institute of Technology to major in Biotechnology and Molecular Bioscience, with a masters in Bioinformatics (accelerated masters program). Here I feel that I can get more specialized internships, co-ops, and research compared to any other school I considered. To help keep my college costs down, I am pursuing becoming a Residence Assistant for the remainder of my college years, as well as working paid internships or co-ops. These endeavors will not just help finance my studies, but help me develop people skills, and give me valuable experience working with teams both as a leader and in laboratory environments.

I have never felt more nervous in all my life. The chatter of the crowd and the footsteps of the judges are the only things that I hear as I anxiously await the chime of the timer. I run through the plan again and again: what code to use when, what attachments are needed, and what starting positions the robot needs to be in. At last, the judges indicate they are ready, and the moment has come to show everyone what our team’s robot can do. BEEEEP. And it begins; the rush of thrill and excitement that comes with operating a robot in the middle of a heated competition. I eventually aged out of the robotic competitions. I missed the challenge and creativity and wanted to share my fondness for coding and robotics with others. I was able to do this through my Girl Scout Gold Award project. For my project, I came to the library at least once a month to run a program with one of the other librarians where we taught children how to code using the LEGO Mindstorms software. I remember hearing stories about how difficult it was for my mom to participate in STEM activities as a child, so I thought that helping with this local STEM program was the perfect way to spread my love of STEM while also providing engaging opportunities for children to get involved. This program allowed children from the community to learn how to build and code a robot, which was a way for me to continue my work on coding and robots after I graduated from FIRST LEGO League competitions. I helped run this program by creating program plans for that day, engaging the children in coding, and teaching them how to make the robot accomplish the tasks they wanted it to complete through both building and coding the robot. I also was able to obtain retired FIRST Lego League challenges for the children to practice on and use through the generous donation from our regional chapter of FIRST Lego League. One of the biggest challenges that I encountered while volunteering at the library was the COVID-19 pandemic. For a while, the library shut down and the program was paused. During that time, I created a packet that the library could use in the future for any other programs or a continuation of the STEM/coding program to use the EV3 program. I’m happy that my packet and the information that I provided the library will continue to help anyone, specifically children, in my local community who want to learn more about coding and the STEM field. I truly believe that to increase the number of people involved in STEM, especially women, you must start introducing people to this incredible and enthralling world at a young age. My hope in working with these children, especially young girls like I once was, is that I sparked some sort of interest in them that will implore them to delve deeper into the wonderfully complex field of STEM. I have found my love of science through experiences such as FIRST Lego League that I have had throughout my childhood, and that is what I hope that my project has done for another young girl out there. The gender gap in the STEM field is a very real problem, and while it has improved a little over time, it is not yet enough, and my project's goal is to help solve that problem. Even if the impact of my project is small in the grand scheme of this global problem, every action to solve this problem helps, even if it is simply reaching out to children in a single community. In past experiences, I felt awkward interacting with children and teaching others. To say that this project was a step outside my comfort zone was an understatement, but I knew that doing STEM outreach with children would be a meaningful and important way to spend my time. The rewards for following through with this project are numerous, as I have gained and improved these invaluable skills more than I ever could have imagined. Helping to run the STEM program at the Orchard Park Library required me to teach these children skills that they often have had no experience with prior to this, but watching these children get so excited about interacting with the robot alleviated my worries. During every STEM program meeting I learned something I could improve upon, and slowly I began to feel more confident in my ability to teach children in an engaging and concise way. I went from stumbling over my words while talking to even a single child to knowing how to formulate ways to teach more complicated building techniques to a small group of children. Hard work and perseverance through my insecurities and the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic taught me so many skills through my Gold Award Project.

I have never felt more nervous in all my life. The chatter of the crowd and the footsteps of the judges are the only things that I hear as I anxiously await the chime of the timer. I run through the plan again and again: what code to use when, what attachments are needed, and what starting positions the robot needs to be in. At last, the judges indicate they are ready, and the moment has come to show everyone what our team’s robot can do. BEEEEP. And it begins; the rush of thrill and excitement that comes with operating a robot in the middle of a heated competition. I eventually aged out of the robotic competitions. I missed the challenge and creativity and wanted to share my fondness for coding and robotics with others. I was able to do this through my Girl Scout Gold Award project. For my project, I came to the library at least once a month to run a program with one of the other librarians where we taught children how to code using the LEGO Mindstorms software. I remember hearing stories about how difficult it was for my mom to participate in STEM activities as a child, so I thought that helping with this local STEM program was the perfect way to spread my love of STEM while also providing engaging opportunities for children to get involved. This program allowed children from the community to learn how to build and code a robot. I helped run this program by creating program plans for that day, engaging the children in coding, and teaching them how to make the robot accomplish the tasks they wanted it to complete through both building and coding the robot. I have found my love of science through experiences such as FIRST Lego League that I have had throughout my childhood, and that is what I hope that my project has done for another young girl out there. The gender gap in the STEM field is a very real problem, and while it has improved a little over time, it is not yet enough, and my project's goal is to help solve that problem.

I plan on pursuing a degree in biotechnology and molecular bioscience with a masters in bioinfomatics. I have always loved helping people and science and math have always been subjects that interest me. Biology and chemistry are two of my favorite subjects in school. A career in medical research and specifically studying microbiology and immunology merges all these interests together into one deeply interesting course of schooling and career choice for the years to come. In this field, I want to perform research with respect to innovations such as vaccines or medicines. I want to be able to develop these new technologies to advance the field of medicine, as there is still so much out there to improve in the way of curing diseases and helping people heal from injuries. While my interests do not necessarily lie within being a doctor and seeing patients, doing research in this field combines everything I would want in a career, and I hope that I can use my education to further help the general population in this way. There are many people who are not able to afford or do not have access to life-changing medicine. I hope to change this unfortunate reality of the modern world by not only finding new cures to diseases, but also improving on pre-existing medicines. While insulin is an example of these extremely high costs of a necessary treatment, it is certainly not the exception. There are so many procedures and medicines that could be used to help people all over the world, but are not able to because of the high cost to acquire them. Some people do not have the income to afford these life-saving cures, while others do not have the ability to access them because of where they live or their background. While this is certainly a long-term goal, any little contribution that I can make to finding a more cost efficient and effective way to create medicine will benefit many people. One simple procedure could prevent someone from passing away from cancer, or lifesaving insulin can help people live perfectly normal lives. It is procedures and medicines like these that are essential for the well-being and lives of so many people, yet they cannot access them because of their income or background. The government has taken some strides to help these people, but to truly make the medical field a more equal and inclusive area, researchers and medical professionals need to work towards driving the cost down of procedures and medicines. I hope to be a part of that team that will work towards driving down the cost of treatments and procedures, as that is one of the primary ways people can be given an equal opportunity to gain these medical advancements to improve their lives

I plan on pursuing a degree in biotechnology and molecular bioscience, and eventually studying microbiology and/or immunology. I have always loved helping people and science and math have always been subjects that interest me. Biology and chemistry are two of my favorite subjects in school. A career in medical research and specifically studying microbiology and immunology merges all these interests together into one deeply interesting course of schooling and career choice for the years to come. In this field, I want to perform research with respect to innovations such as vaccines or medicines. I want to be able to develop these new technologies to advance the field of medicine, as there is still so much out there to improve in the way of curing diseases and helping people heal from injuries. While my interests do not necessarily lie within being a doctor and seeing patients, doing research in this field combines everything I would want in a career, and I hope that I can use my education to further help the general population in this way. There are many people who are not able to afford or do not have access to life-changing medicine. I hope to change this unfortunate reality of the modern world by not only finding new cures to diseases, but also improving on pre-existing medicines. While insulin is an example of these extremely high costs of a necessary treatment, it is certainly not the exception. There are so many procedures and medicines that could be used to help people all over the world, but are not able to because of the high cost to acquire them. Some people do not have the income to afford these life-saving cures, while others do not have the ability to access them because of where they live or their background. While this is certainly a long-term goal, any little contribution that I can make to finding a more cost efficient and effective way to create medicine will benefit many people. One simple procedure could prevent someone from passing away from cancer, or lifesaving insulin can help people live perfectly normal lives. It is procedures and medicines like these that are essential for the well-being and lives of so many people, yet they cannot access them because of their income or background. The government has taken some strides to help these people, but to truly make the medical field a more equal and inclusive area, researchers and medical professionals need to work towards driving the cost down of procedures and medicines. I hope to be a part of that team that will work towards driving down the cost of treatments and procedures, as that is one of the primary ways people can be given an equal opportunity to gain these medical advancements to improve their lives.

I have never felt more nervous in all my life. The chatter of the crowd and the footsteps of the judges are the only things that I hear as I anxiously await the chime of the timer. I run through the plan again and again: what code to use when, what attachments are needed, and what starting positions the robot needs to be in. At last, the judges indicate they are ready, and the moment has come to show everyone what our team’s robot can do. BEEEEP. And it begins; the rush of thrill and excitement that comes with operating a robot in the middle of a heated competition. I eventually aged out of the robotic competitions. I missed the challenge and creativity and wanted to share my fondness for coding and robotics with others. I was able to do this through my Girl Scout Gold Award project. For my project, I came to the library at least once a month to run a program with one of the other librarians where we taught children how to code using the LEGO Mindstorms software. I remember hearing stories about how difficult it was for my mom to participate in STEM activities as a child, so I thought that helping with this local STEM program was the perfect way to spread my love of STEM while also providing engaging opportunities for children to get involved. This program allowed children from the community to learn how to build and code a robot. I helped run this program by creating program plans for that day, engaging the children in coding, and teaching them how to make the robot accomplish the tasks they wanted it to complete through both building and coding the robot. I also was able to obtain retired FIRST Lego League challenges for the children to practice on and use through the generous donation from our regional chapter of FIRST Lego League. One of the biggest challenges that I encountered while volunteering at the library was the COVID-19 pandemic. For a while, the library shut down and the program was paused. During that time, I created a packet that the library could use in the future for any other programs or a continuation of the STEM/coding program to use the EV3 program. I’m happy that my packet and the information that I provided the library will continue to help anyone, specifically children, in my local community who want to learn more about coding and the STEM field. I truly believe that to increase the number of people involved in STEM, especially women, you must start introducing people to this incredible and enthralling world at a young age. My hope in working with these children, especially young girls like I once was, is that I sparked some sort of interest in them that will implore them to delve deeper into the wonderfully complex field of STEM. I have found my love of science through experiences such as FIRST Lego League that I have had throughout my childhood, and that is what I hope that my project has done for another young girl out there. The gender gap in the STEM field is a very real problem, and while it has improved a little over time, it is not yet enough, and my project's goal is to help solve that problem. Even if the impact of my project is small in the grand scheme of this global problem, every action to solve this problem helps, even if it is simply reaching out to children in a single community.