As a member of the LGBTQ+ community I understand the importance of creating safe spaces for everyone, not just in the physical world but in the virtual one as well. Digital threats can quickly materialize into real-world consequences, especially for those of us who grew up in an environment where being outed could be dangerous. I plan to use my cybersecurity knowledge to safeguard the digital identities of vulnerable individuals and teach others in my community how to safely maintain their anonymity when necessary. Cybersecurity is not just about hacking; it’s about defending and empowering our friends, our neighbors, and our allies. Through my education and my profession, I hope to be able to spread such knowledge and make the digital world a safer and more accessible place.

I grew up in the library. It was a tiny place where everybody knew everybody. I would attend all the kids’ programs and ask the librarians what the limit was for how many books I could take out. I, of course, loved reading. But that’s not the only way the library shaped me. Eventually, by the time I reached the end of middle school, I had switched to a bigger library. But I wanted to return the good that my small town library had offered me. Growing up around those kind librarians who knew me personally, and who showed me how impactful a kids' program or event could be, I aspired to do the same for my community. When I was offered the opportunity to volunteer at my new library, I jumped at it, hoping to be like the librarians I knew growing up. As the world was faced with one of its greatest challenges - the COVID-19 pandemic - I continued to volunteer, being able to see the significance of something as small as a recorded picture book for children stuck at home. I may not want to be a librarian, but growing up at my small town library made me dream of putting some good into the world, no matter my profession or location. This is something that I have carried with me for years and nothing I will ever give up. I will forever be in service of humanity. I grew up on the softball team. 6 years old I ran out on the field in my pink ballet leotard. My brother played baseball and I did dance, but I wanted to play too. The following year I switched to play baseball with my brother and then eventually softball. Over the next 8 years I became a part of a team, a part of a community. I learned what it means to work together and the significance of building a network. While some came and went, I played with the same core team of kids and coaches every year for many years and I established connections. Some of these I still maintain today despite no longer playing the game. As I go through life it is necessary to foster relationships with people and to maintain the skills to work with other people. Though I am no longer a softball player, I am still a part of this community and it encouraged me to come back to help as an assistant coach for a younger team or as a teen worker at the concession stand. Being involved in a softball team has demonstrated for me the importance of establishing lifelong connections. This scholarship would help me to fulfill the drives that my childhood instilled in me without needing to worry about money. I could spend more time volunteering if I wasn’t as concerned about getting a job, or get back out on the field as a coach with the time that I would gain. This scholarship would significantly reduce the financial burden of my college experience, allowing me to dedicate myself to academics, extracurriculars, and personal growth.

I grew up in the library. It was a tiny place where everybody knew everybody. I would attend all the kids’ programs and ask the librarians what the limit was for how many books I could take out. I, of course, loved reading. But that’s not the only way the library shaped me. Eventually, by the time I reached the end of middle school, I had switched to a bigger library. But I wanted to return the good that my small town library had offered me. Growing up around those kind librarians who knew me personally, and who showed me how impactful a kids' program or event could be, I aspired to do the same for my community. When I was offered the opportunity to volunteer at my new library, I jumped at it, hoping to be like the librarians I knew growing up. As the world was faced with one of its greatest challenges - the COVID-19 pandemic - I continued to volunteer, being able to see the significance of something as small as a recorded picture book for children stuck at home. I may not want to be a librarian, but growing up at my small town library made me dream of putting some good into the world, no matter my profession or location. This is something that I have carried with me for years and nothing I will ever give up. I will forever be in service of humanity. I also grew up on the softball field. 6 years old I ran out on the field in my pink ballet leotard. My brother played baseball and I did dance, but I wanted to play too. The following year I switched to play baseball with my brother and then eventually softball. Over the next 9 years I became a part of a team, a part of a community. I learned what it means to work together and the significance of building a network. While some came and went, I played with the same core team of kids and coaches every year for many years and I established connections. Some of these I still maintain today despite no longer playing the game. As I go through life it is necessary to foster relationships with people and to maintain the skills to work with other people. Though I am no longer a softball player, I am still a part of this community and it encouraged me to come back to volunteer as an assistant coach for a younger team. I spent my summer nights out on the field playing catch with the younger kids, teaching them to hit off a tee, or coaching them as they rounded the bases. I established connections with these kids which have proven to be as influential as the ones I had with my own coaches when I was little. I have met them later on down the road, their trust in me persisting as their parents recount how I coached them and how much their kid loved it. These stories warm my heart In the end it is the good which you can return to the world which makes life worth living. Whether that be through leading a whole class, coaching a single kid, or smiling at a passerby, these moments can spread only warmth to the ones who need it.

I grew up on the softball field. 6 years old I ran out on the field in my pink ballet leotard. My brother played baseball and I did dance, but I wanted to play too. The following year I switched to play baseball with my brother and then eventually softball. Over the next 8 years I became a part of a team, a part of a community. I learned what it means to work together and the significance of building a network. While some came and went, I played with the same core team of kids and coaches every year for much of my life and I established connections. Some of these I still maintain today despite no longer playing the game. As I go through life it is necessary to foster relationships with people and to maintain the skills to work with other people. Though I am no longer a softball player, I am still a part of this community. I came back as an assistant coach for a younger team for a number of years. I imparted my knowledge not only of the game but of how to play and to work as a team. I loved spending summer nights out on the field with my sister or other young girls playing catch with them, helping them to hit off a tee, or coaching them as they rounded the bases. And once again, these connections persisted. After I was no longer this one girl’s coach I ran into her at a community event. When she recalled how I had coached her a number of years prior, she stuck with me for the activities, finally having the confidence to break away from her dad for a couple of moments to enjoy the fun. It made me feel proud of the impression I had made as I heard her dad recount how I had coached her and how much she had loved me, where even years later she as well as her dad was able to trust in me. I created relationships not only with the kids, but with the adults through their children, as they saw the importance that softball and a strong community played in their lives. Being involved in a softball team has demonstrated for me the importance of establishing lifelong connections. I have the same connections with my old coaches that the kids that I coached do with me, and the influence that they have had on my life will never be forgotten. Though my days as a softball player may have come to an end, I know I will always be a part of the softball community.

A hush falls over the crowd as the video plays, the only sound the flipping of pages and the faint scribble of pen on paper. You can almost feel the gears turning in everyone’s mind as we try to comprehend the task that is being presented to us. The beginning of January marks the kickoff to the First Robotics Competition for the year. I joined the robotics team in my eleventh grade year and trying to figure out what game we’re playing is one of the most exciting topics to talk about. It is different each year and I know it will be a challenge to design and code the scouting system for the game in the upcoming months, but it is fun to discuss the theme, debate what the teasers might allude to, and joke about whether it will be a water game finally. I am drawn to the unpredictability of the event and the challenge it will ultimately present as I get to work with a close team to figure it out. There will be frustration, laughter, and games, but I crave the underlying excitement of it all. Working on the scouting system for my robotics team was months of hard work. 7 days, 30 hours per week. It nearly qualified as a full time job. But it was my passion. What we made was innovative and new. Instead of following a traditional route of paper scouting, we designed and created our own software that allowed us to program Xbox controllers to record actions of robots on the playing field which would then be transferred through SQL server to an Excel spreadsheet that generated statistics and predictions about our competition as well as our allies. This data could be used by our drive team to come up with a strategy for each of our matches. Often at competition we would have other teams approach us to ask about our unique system, and asking us for help improving their own. While our system was very beneficial to our team, it was also a lot of fun to work on. We had a small group, 3 of us students as well as two mentors, who would work on it together each night. We’d have brainstorm sessions on the whiteboards, play games as a mental break, host mini presentations and design reviews, and help each other out. I became the captain for our small group and was in charge of bringing the project to the rest of our robotics team, lead presentations to elementary school kids, and teach people from across the world at competition how our system worked. It is what got me into computer science as a career and it something that I am still very proud of to this day.

A hush falls over the crowd as the video plays, the only sound the flipping of pages and the faint scribble of pen on paper. You can almost feel the gears turning in everyone’s mind as we try to comprehend the task that is being presented to us. The beginning of January marks the kickoff to the First Robotics Competition for the year. When Mr. Casey set the robotics flyer down in front of me in eleventh-grade, my entire perspective was about to shift. Mr. Casey had been my technology teacher every year of high-school for numerous different classes. From Internet of Things to Digital Electronics to Cybersecurity to CISCO Networking, each class I took with him became my new favorite. His classes are what got me interested in a technology-oriented field. Eventually I narrowed my interest to computer science. I had always enjoyed coding and software recreationally but began to seriously consider it after being Captain of the Software and Development Team for my robotics team and connecting with a network of people. Despite this concentration however I am still interested in so much to do with technology. Everything from electrical engineering with Arduino boards to messing with Artificial Intelligence to learning about cybersecurity to furthering my knowledge of robotics excites me and I want to be able to understand it all. My dream job after finishing my computer science degree is become a digital forensic analyst. It combines so many of my passions with computer science at its core, with a heavy focus on logic and problem solving, something which I have always enjoyed. I could help to make the world a better place in a way that many people do not often think about. It is a job that, when I mention it to my friends, family, or colleagues, makes them ask questions and think about things differently. I think that I would be a good fit for this scholarship because of my interest for exploring a computer science degree and my focus on human connection. I have spent my time volunteering at the local library, as a youth softball coach, working at a summer camp, working at a daycare or as a barista. Despite my interest in computer science, it is not the computer that draws me in but rather the story of other people and the way in which I can learn to help them.