I am currently a second-year student majoring in computer science at Miami University. What brought me here was my drive to continue learning and possibly create new technologies. As I continue learning, I start thinking about where in the computer science field I want to work in. Throughout my search, I’ve found at least 3 areas where I see myself working, One of these areas is web design and development. When I started learning web development, which was back in 2019, I was very excited when I got an assignment on making my website. The first thing I thought of was my mom’s idea of opening a bed and breakfast, along with her brand, so I decided to build a mock website of her bed and breakfast showing the structure of how it would look. This became one of my passion projects. However, I did stop working on it when the pandemic hit, and I didn’t start working on it again until November 2022. I went back into this project and added what I know now to the project to make it more functional, as it was just designed with no functionality. I was also interested in creating websites for educational purposes, like creating web calculators, K-12 learning programs, etc. I’ve also become interested in making game websites on financial literacy. Since high school students need to have some knowledge of finances before graduating, teachers can have students access these sites and learn about financial literacy in a fun way. Another area I can see myself working is in Cybersecurity. Since I grew up in the age of the early internet, I was told as a child that I had to be careful on the web, don’t click advertisements on websites because it could download a virus to the computer. Although I don’t have much cybersecurity knowledge, I do plan on learning more about it, and maybe even getting some certificates while I’m at it! Since I was little I’ve always been fascinated with technology. Whether it was computers, game consoles, and even televisions. I also remember that we did some learning assignments online, and even played educational games as well. At that time, I didn’t know what I wanted to be growing up, but I’m glad I held on to my fascination with technology, as it led me to where I am today. And in recent years, with the news of AI development, I’ve become interested in pursuing it. Video games have been a core memory of my childhood, that’s how I became interested in possible game development. The moment I wanted to know more was when my eighth-grade class participated in the “hour of code” activity on code.org. We learned how to code using blocky code, and it was so fun and interesting, I wanted to know more about coding. So even though I still consider myself a newbie in programming, I have to look back and see exactly how much I’ve accomplished. I’ve gone much farther than I thought I'd be, and I’m glad this inspiration train won't stop for a long time.

I'm looking into software development and already have some experience with Java and React Native. I know that I still have so much to learn, so I want to continue learning by going to college to get a bachelor's in Computer Science. As I went through high school, they didn't express the importance of taking a financial literacy class and I'm not sure if they had one. I currently attend a career center next to my high school, and they had a financial literacy course that juniors were required to take (not to graduate, every junior is required to take it to this career center). I learned about budgeting, reading paychecks(pay stubs), filling out checks, etc. I found all these things very useful and I understood what I was getting myself into when it comes to finances. What I'm disappointed about is that this class isn't mandatory for graduation. If teens were taught finances in high school, students can be confident in their financial decisions and maybe retire early. Of course, the 1% wouldn't like this. They wouldn't be at the top anymore if people educated themselves and practice good financial habits to rise to the top. If the federal government doesn't require financial literacy to be taught in schools, I plan to make a program/application that teaches you about financial literacy and the secrets of the 1%. I plan to learn some finance understand how to advocate financial literacy.

My biggest inspiration in life is creating something that people will use for years. Like with Microsoft and Apple, I want to invent something (some type of software) that can teach you about topics that aren't teached in school. We are the next generation and we need to know what past generations are preventing us from learning. I know lots of people want to learn how to become financially free, everyone should have a chance to learn how to avoid getting pulled into scams and debt. And since I can make applications, I can start with small projects that can turn into a educational application.

Throughout my life, I've always been interested in technology. Whenever I got on the computer as a child, I had the best memories and always wondered how websites and other applications were made. My interest in computers piqued in the sixth grade. I was learning how to type with all of my fingers instead of two, it got me excited about typing fast. In the eighth grade, I started learning to code through code.org, with blocky code. That was the moment I got interested in coding. When I entered high school I had a school loaned computer, there was no software I could download, I didn't even know where to start. In my junior year, I started attending a career center and started to learn how to code while also earning college credits. I also began a membership with Business Professionals of America, where I won two competitions, third place in Database Applications (regionals 2020) and seventh place in Web Application Team (nationals 2021). I am still interested in technology and want to learn more about it, so I plan to go to college at Miami University for Computer Science. I'm still thinking about double majoring in Game Design as well, I just want to make sure it isn't too much on my plate. I will also be getting an internship or job in my field of study during my second semester of college. And while I'm there, I will be persistent in containing any knowledge while also doing school work. As mentioned earlier, my team was seventh in the nation for our web application, we won despite having issues during the project. My team and I didn't have much experience building a website from scratch because Covid-19 started to spread across the globe. We also had six weeks to work on the project and turn it in. We dealt with the situation by starting with what we already knew, learned what we didn't, communicate, and collaborate. And as a result, we finished our application before winter break. However, when we came back from break, the school wiped the desktops and our program wasn't on the desktop, others in my lab had the same issue and lost their projects too. At least we saved our project using GitHub so we could download and regain our code on Visual Studio. We made small tweaks, documented our pictures, and were able to turn the project in before the deadline.