This scholarship will help me cover the costs of my education so I can focus on my education and not its costs. I'm pursuing mechanical engineering because I've discovered I'm not only good at it, I enjoy it and could spend hours upon hours of my life working on it (I already spend 6-8 hours a week working in the robotics club!). Plus with careful career planning, which I plan on doing, my career will help to improve our world! My biggest aspiration in life is to leave the world better than I found it. It may be in renewable energy, it may be in water purification, or it may be in a field I have not even heard of yet! But I will be using my career to do my part in making our world a better place. My educational goals require one thing above all else: time. I need a lot of time for my classes, the homework that comes with those classes, and career exploration. Not to mention time to keep myself mentally & physically healthy and time I'd like to dedicate to community service. That kind of time will be hard to come by if I have to take on many hours at a job to stay afloat. I'm already expecting to take on a job, but I'd like to minimize the hours per week I need. I am working on this by taking a summer job as a camp counselor and applying for many scholarships. I would be using the money from this scholarship to buy a high-quality computer. Even if this money goes directly into tuition, that frees up $500 of my money I can then spend on a computer instead of tuition. I need a computer that can handle some heavy software we need for 3-D modeling and coding projects. On my college's website there's a list of computer recommendations by major, the mechanical engineering computer is the most expensive. It's $300 more than the second most expensive, and $800 more than the second most expensive engineering-major computer. I have no intention of starting college off on the wrong foot, getting the appropriate computer is essential to that. While $500 will not completely cover the cost of a $2,299 computer, it helps a lot. In summary: I am pursuing mechanical engineering and I want to minimize the amount of time I need to be working to afford college so I use that time to study at college and prepare myself for a career that makes our world a better place. This scholarship will help me by contributing to my purchase of a computer. Thank you for your consideration.

My most important goal in life is to leave this world better than I found it, a net positive impact as I like to think of it. I've divided that goal into three sections: pursuing a career that has a positive impact, using spare time for volunteerism and activism, and keeping myself happy and healthy. If I could upload pictures to submissions I'd upload a picture I made on my wall that visualizes these three sections and how they are all part of making the world a better place. The first section was inspired by the organization 80,000 Hours. 80,000 Hours is named after how many hours most people spend working in their careers during their life. They provide research, advice, and job networking for those who want to maximize their positive impact in their careers. Up until this school year, the way I worked at this section of my goal was to work hard in school. The more I learn the more opportunities I have to make a greater impact. I found I'm the best in math and science subjects which led me to pursue engineering. This year in addition to working hard in school, I also had to pick the right college. I decided on the University of Maine because of its phenomenal engineering programs and financially it makes the most sense. My next steps are to do some serious career planning taking advantage of resources from 80,000 Hours. I already know I want to have a career in engineering where I make a positive difference in this world. Green technology is my preferred option currently, but I'll explore other options as well like different ways technology can improve or save human lives. The second section used to just be volunteering, but I added activism to that a few months ago. I've discovered I like engaging in local politics. This comes from two recent experiences. The first is I joined a student group that traveled to the Maine State House to talk to our representatives about the vaping problems in our school. The second is the national trend of book banning has reached my school, for the last few months I've been participating in school board meetings to be a voice for students. I've always believed in the importance of volunteering because I've seen the positive impacts it has, but sometimes problems are better fixed through governmental changes. It's like the phrase "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life". Volunteering at a soup kitchen is great, convincing local governments to invest in good jobs, housing, healthcare, and other social welfare programs so soup kitchens won't be needed. The third section is one that took me a long time to come to terms with. I was so focused on serving my community that I neglected myself. I've come to learn that I am a person worthy of just as much happiness as everyone else. My new philosophy is I shouldn't hesitate to ask for any favor I wouldn't give if the roles were reversed. Improving lives is my goal, my life included. Improving the world is a daunting task. With nearly 8 billion people, helping every single person is a goal too big for anyone. But I can start small. I can help the world and my country by persuing a career in altruistic engineering, I can help my communities though volunteerism and activism, and I can help myself by remembering I am just as valuable as everyone who I wish to help.

Climate change can feel like an overwhelming problem. If I’ve learned anything as an aspiring engineer, big problems are best handled if divided into smaller problems. If everyone takes responsibility for a small problem they know how to fix, climate change becomes more manageable. That could look like starting a sustainability committee or club, proposing bike lanes for one’s community, or switching diets to one that’s more sustainable. Everyone has different strengths and limitations so everyone can help in their own ways. The worst thing to do is to make yourself or others feel guilty over little things they can’t control. I’ve fallen victim to this. I used to feel guilty over every plastic fork or every minute I spent driving to school. This is exactly what big polluters want us to believe. Coca-Cola created a recycling campaign as a way to shift the blame for plastic pollution from them onto consumers. It also supports virtue-signaling culture. Some people can do more than others due to many factors like health and wealth. Besides, someone could be living a perfectly eco-friendly lifestyle and their positive impact be canceled out by the fossil fuel industry within hours. Don’t get me wrong, individual action is important. How can we pass climate change policies without individuals who vote and how can we influence the marketplace without conscious consumers? But being eco-friendly shouldn’t be a full-time job nor should the average person be shamed for it. Especially with the rise of greenwashing (when companies advertise their product as eco-friendly when it’s not), living a 100% sustainable life is near impossible in our current society. If society is set up in a way in which living sustainably isn’t a full time job then individuals will live sustainably. This is why systematic change is more important than individual change. But how can this happen? Systematic change must come on all levels of society and in all industries. This is why people need to do what they’re best at. The people best equipped to make an industry sustainable are those in the industry, not eco-conscious outsiders. Every community is different so sustainable infrastructure like energy and transportation should be figured out at local levels. Some communities have many rivers for hydropower while others have large fields for wind and solar farms. The people who know the community needs the best are the people living in it. I have two main methods of fighting climate change that works best with my unique strengths. 1.) I’m pursuing engineering. I’m not quite sure exactly what industry I’ll be going into but I know it’ll involve innovating eco-friendly technology like electric vehicles. 2.) I’m vegan. I’m lucky that my mom is already a vegetarian so switching wasn’t hard. It’s been two years and I don’t think I could ever go back. I’m hoping to add activism someday. I’ve become comfortable with public speaking and talking to strangers so that’s a new strength I have. Once I’m settled into college I’ll have the time to use this new strength to attend rallies and do advocacy work. If everyone contributes to the fight against climate change in the ways that work best for them, climate change will become a thing of the past!

Feminism is the belief that everyone deserves equal rights, treatment, and respect regardless of their gender. This belief is so important because human beings are much more than their gender yet that’s what we’re often belittled and stereotyped to. The patriarchy hurts everyone, not just women. It hurts nonbinary and transgender people by trying to force them into a box. It hurts men by holding them to an unachievable expectation of masculinity because the worst thing they can do is “act like a sissy”. My time on my school’s robotics team has not only taught me about engineering but being a woman in engineering. The upperclassmen of the robotics team were all boys. With them as my only role models, I thought the only way to gain respect and be successful here was to be masculine. I put on a masculine persona, a mask. The pitch of my voice literally dropped an octave when I was doing robotics. Then the pandemic hit and I built a robot at home. At home I didn’t feel I needed a mask and I learned I’m much happier and more successful when I do things my way. I’m captain of my robotics team which now consists of 1 male, 2 females, and 3 nonbinary people. I’ve led us into robotics competitions with our heads held high, not giving a care that we’re a complete deviation from the typical gender ratio. While this is just a coincidence, I think it’s pretty amazing. No young woman will have the same experience as I did. Right from the beginning she will have role models who are like her and be in an environment that is open to different ways of thinking. My contribution to feminism is to give girls the role model I didn’t have. I work at a residential girl scout summer camp. I usually prefer co-ed spaces but there’s something nice about a space without boys. The camp is lacking in STEM activities. I intend to fix this problem. For my high school capstone I’m writing a book of STEM activities I can do with campers. STEM is often taught as a “boyish” thing and I think that’s bogus. The STEM industry needs more girls and I want to encourage girls to become interested in this stuff. I find the three women featured in Hidden Figures to be inspiring to me. Kathrine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were all passionate about their fields and wouldn’t let anyone hold them back. They were unapologetically themselves even in a place that didn’t respect them. I’m going to be unapologetically myself by pursuing what I’m passionate about: engineering, the most male-dominated field in STEM according to Harvard Business Review. I’ve heard how challenging it is for a woman to gain respect in this field, but I love engineering and I’m willing to fight to make it an industry more women-friendly because at the end of the day, that’s what feminism is all about: fighting for each other.

I am pursuing a mechanical engineering degree with a concentration, minor, or double major in sustainability. I want to work in the development of green technology. Our world is facing a crisis and I'm going to use what I'm good at to help. I know a STEM degree is right for me. I like to ask a lot of questions, mostly beginning with "how," "why," and "what if." I want to know how things work and why they work (that's why I love physics class so much). The most important question is "what if." What if electric cars are more affordable? What if nuclear fusion can replace our nonrenewable energy sources? What if M&Ms can come out of a dispenser? Engineering builds a bridge from "what if" to "I will make." I will make electric cars more affordable. I will make nuclear fusion replace our nonrenewable energy sources. I will make an M&M dispenser. I know those are some ambitious goals, but that's what's so exciting about STEM! Ambitious goals are being achieved! I'm seeing more charging stations for electric cars. There was a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy. I now have an M&M dispenser made from LEGOs! I want to use engineering to better our world. I’m undecided about which college I want to go to, but it needs to have a good research department so I can research, explore, and develop sustainable technologies. In addition to working in green technology, I want to encourage STEM in young girls. I work at Camp Natarswi, a Girl Scout camp up North in Baxter State Park. I've been going there for many years as a camper and last summer I worked there as a counselor. Camp Natarswi offers many different programs but it's lacking a STEM program. I am going to change that. The idea first came to me in Physics class. It was a thermodynamics unit and we experimented with metal and plastic to see which material, both at room temperature, would cause ice to melt faster. I noticed how simple the experiment was and thought it would be a fun activity for camp. With the idea in the back of my mind, I started to think of other simple experiments we could do. The list became longer and now includes other STEM activities like building a tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks. We could have an astronomy lesson under the stars because the camp is isolated enough to have barely any light pollution. If I could get the materials, I’d love to build circuits with them and teach them what a diode and capacitor are. I'm so excited to present this idea to the camp director. I don't think the program will be ready in time for this summer and that's okay. It would be great to trial run some of the activities. Especially math activities. Math gets a bad reputation for being too hard and stressful. I want to show the young girls who come to Camp Natarswi that math is nothing to be afraid of. The challenging part is because of its reputation, math can suck the excitement out of whatever we're doing. I'll need to find a way to incorporate math into activities while avoiding those feelings of stress and anxiety associated with it. In conclusion, I am going to make a positive impact on the world by using my STEM program to research sustainable technology in college, get a career in green technology, and design my own program for Camp Natarswi to bring my excitement for STEM to young women and girls.

I am planning to pursue mechanical engineering. If I can afford it, I would love to do a 5-year master's program. I've known I wanted to go into engineering for a long time. Here are some reasons why I know engineering is right for me: 1. I enjoy learning math. In sophomore year I took an online Algebra 2 class (in addition to taking Geometry at the time) to put myself on track to take AP Physics 2 and AP Calculous senior year. I am so glad I completed 2 math classes in one year because I love taking those AP classes. Plus if I do well on the AP exams I may not have to pay for those classes in college! 2. I spend about 8 hours per week doing robotics. Joining my school's robotics team was one of my best decisions. My school participates in Vex Robotics Competition, every year there is a new game and we need to build a robot to play that game at regional competitions. I enjoy the practical problem-solving of building our robot. If it wasn't for homework I would like to spend more like 10-12 hours a week doing robotics. 3. I'm interested in technology in general. For this year's musical, I joined the tech team instead of the cast. I am loving it! I was put in charge of the soundboard. What was surprising to me was how much music science I would learn. Our auditorium manager, CJ, explained how certain sound waves create feedback and how the computer is programmed not to amplify those frequencies. It's all so fascinating and I haven't even gotten to programming lights yet! I am about to learn so much more about the connections between music and technology in my new role as music director for my school's One Acts. 4. I love solving problems in groups. I think teamwork gets overlooked a lot in STEM. My best example of teamwork is my experiences at summer camp. My summer program was all about teaching us camping skills. It culminated in "test camp." From Monday's dinner to Friday's breakfast in groups of 3-4 we were responsible for setting up and keeping our campsite tidy, doing tests to prove our skills, and cooking meals for ourselves and a judge. Those meals couldn't just be ramen and PB&J. We made all kinds of pasta, shepherd's pie, coffee, cakes, and even curry. We had to work together to coordinate who was cooking what and how we'll be sharing space over the propane stove and fire. If something went wrong like the firewood was too wet to burn or our morning alarm didn't go off, we had to work together to find a solution. I'd be lying if I said our teamwork was perfect. A huge challenge we overcame was stress. When things went wrong we let the stress take over and became quite cruel to each other. We realized being nice to each other wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. Focusing on saying "thank you" and requesting things rather than demanding helped our group dynamic. In addition to my mechanical engineering degree, I want to double major, minor, or focus on sustainability. My end goal is to be working in green technology. It could be designing electric cars, renewable energy sources, or even hydroponic agriculture. My life's goal is to have a net positive impact on the world. I think the best way for me to do that is to utilize my strengths and develop technologies that will save our planet! Thank you for your consideration