Service has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. From morning to noon every Christmas and Thanksgiving, my family has had this longstanding tradition of cooking food, taking donated clothes, and passing it out to those in need. As a young girl, I never understood why we would leave our warm home filled with gifts and a delicious meal to venture out into the freezing winter that Chicago is never without, especially when we fell slightly below the lower middle class line. It wasn't until I got older that I realized that the entire point was to put our community before ourselves, since we were put in a position that many people weren't fortunate to have. During my freshman year of college, I plan to continue my service through creating a nonprofit organization with the goal of impacting the lives of children. At the age of nine years old, I was enrolled into a coding program and, since then, have been enthralled with the world of computer science. It's opened many doors for me to receive networking, internship, and mentoring opportunities that have changed my life for the better. Through computer science and technology, I plan to use my nonprofit organization to introduce children in the low-income communities of Chicago to careers in STEM. Chicago has a growing problem with teen takeovers and its youth running rampant in the streets, but I believe that by giving the next generation third spaces that involve things that interest them, there will be less trouble and more room for creativity and success. I plan to do this by bringing in people who have careers in STEM to talk about their experience and background, as well as providing opportunities for paid-to-learn programs. I want to double major in computer science and electrical engineering to become a software and electrical engineer so I can be an impressive candidate within the tech industry, but also because I would be a resource. By double majoring, I would be able to use the knowledge I obtain to create an app, or tech startup, that will impact the society I came from technology-wise. While in college, I'd seek mentorship from professors and gain connections to people who could possibly assist me in completing my journey of having an established app/startup by the time I graduate college with my two degrees. I would also want to compete in hackathons, but create a club of my own that promotes volunteering and service within our local community ( I also happen to be a student leader of a club called FOCUS that does just that with a minimum of 200 students within my high school). Beyond graduation, I would want to find a stable, entry level job where I can be a well-versed backend developer who's role consists of dealing with the overlap that is electrical engineering as well. I understand that what I want to do isn't easy but it's not about comfort. It's about putting in the necessary effort to reap the results I want in due time. Resilience, courage, and integrity are all values that I hold near and dear to my heart, so in everything that I do, I will persevere and succeed.

School has always been just a means to an end for me. At first when I was younger, I only went to school because I had to and it was expected of me. Now, as I am just a few weeks away from graduating high school, I have found that I want to go to school out of my own volition to set a standard. I was born and raised in an area on the Eastside of the city some would know as “Terror Town” until I was seven with my three other siblings, mom, and grandma. Within my early childhood, I was often confined to the four walls of my family’s second-story apartment due to where we lived being too dangerous, and the fact that our downstairs neighbors were gang affiliated and dealt drugs didn’t make matters any better. Through my endless amount of time spent inside the house, I developed a love for books and computers. When I wasn’t reading above my grade level and competing in spelling bees, I was learning how to code, and I loved every minute of it. From then on, I was enthralled with learning since it not only kept me busy, but also made me feel hopeful that I could make a difference with my obtained knowledge. Where I’m from, you only ever hear of someone being a “product of their environment” if they grow up to be a gangbanger or drug dealer, never someone good. Mahatma Gandhi once said that we should be the change we wish to see in the world. I want to change that narrative because I am a product of my environment who doesn’t aim to bring destruction and bloodshed to my community, but community but honor. And as the oldest daughter within my first-generation household, I plan to lead by example because it’s my duty and I also never had one. To achieve this goal, I've faced minor academic setbacks, psychological trauma, and the murder of my cousin. All of these events, as unfortunate as they have been, have been turning points in my story that have made me the woman I am today. I want to attend college to major in computer science and electrical engineering so that I am able to create my own tech startup, or an app, that would allow me to use the revenue generated to fund the low-income community I'm from. None of my parents went to college as they never even finished high school, so it is imperative to me that I am able to do so and be an example to my two younger sisters but to those who may even look up to me.