Born into a world where computer screens fill every part of our day, I felt as though I had no choice but to go into technology. I was 5 years old, accompanying my mother at her community-college's library when I used a computer for the first time. Search engines like Ask.com granted me the uncharted power to access virtually anything that I wanted with the click of a few buttons and a decent Wi-Fi connection. I would find myself spending a plethora of hours searching the web, looking for cool images, playing amusing flash games, and watching videos on YouTube. I was crazed for this device, and every chance I had to go with my mother to the library, I would take it instantly, without a doubt in my 5-year-old mind.
This craze followed me up to High-School when I fell in love with all of the iOS software that I could access on my first phone, the iPhone 6s. Being able to have a device that took pictures and let me edit them with a few taps had me obsessed. I was able to take my pictures of the cool places that I had visited, then edit and share them with my friends without even having to purchase or carry around expensive equipment. I took advantage of the infinitely big App Store, downloading various applications that gave different filters and applied breathtaking effects to the pictures, giving them a completely different look. I tried brand new game applications, testing how high the level of code iOS developers brought to the table by seeing which bugs I could invoke. Afterward, I would watch videos on YouTube for countless hours. I could read, watch movies, take pictures, and send text messages all on a device that could fit in my pocket. The simplistic nature of this device, accompanied by the versatility, and innovative design made me want to do anything that I could do to learn more about how it is made, and help others make it better, and more accessible. Software developers revolutionized the experience 5-year-old me had with computers by making them functional anywhere. The improvement of computers motivated me to pursue a degree in computer science, focusing on software development.
When I was in third grade, I visited Kenya. Before this trip, I was accustomed to having everything I needed, education-wise, at a nearby reach. Led screens, modern technology, and the Internet were normal to me. During the trip, I experienced a change of perspective. After settling down after a long drive into the village after arriving from our flight, my mother convinced me to go to the local elementary school to see how children my age lived. When I got to class, I entered a room filled with wooden benches and long freshly cut log tables. I noticed something that has stuck with me forever. Near the entrance stood a heap of tattered, disregarded, outdated books in a rectangular bin. On the front of the bin was a small leaflet that read, "Library". I thought of the students who would never know the feeling of being immersed in a good book. I wondered how this school was able to provide a sufficient education for my friends if they could not even access a book, the most fundamental way of learning. This provided me with a problem that I would want to solve, implementing modern technology into third-world countries. I will achieve this goal by learning programming languages in JavaScript and gaining knowledge from working closely with my peers and professors.