I've always avidly loved math, science, and computers. Ever since I was in preschool I was focused on math, with my parents enrolling me in a local school tough on learning. I gained a lot of early experience in the fundamentals and thrived throughout my schooling. By 4th grade, I was in gifted programs for math and science, and in 7th grade, I participated in the TIP program to take the SATs early. I joined a math competition team in high school and participated avidly in the chess club throughout middle and high school. My favorite subject was calculus, and at the same time, I had a strong interest in chemistry and computers, leading me to take extra coursework in both. It took me a while to find the exact path I wanted in STEM, but I knew that I was going to land somewhere in engineering or mathematics. Before finding my true passion in computer science, I began my college career pursuing a degree in mathematics. My high school teacher was the reason- he was a man with such a passion for math learning that he stayed a high school teacher even as he had earned his doctorate in mathematics. I learned so much from him and his gentle compassion and love for mathematics. It made me go from just being good at math to truly appreciating it. While in the end, I switched my major, my love for mathematics and engineering has never swayed. My favorite classes are still math courses, and while it is not my chosen career, math will always be near and dear to me. Computer science became my path as I realized that what I wanted to truly do with the math required a little more than abstract algebra and real analysis. Computers gave me freedom I never thought I'd have. As an adult, after I had to drop out of college the first time, I spent many years poor and having to constantly relocate due to financial pressures. While I never had to be evicted, if the rent went up, I had to move. Alongside that, my health was suffering and I had very little stability to maintain it. I lost much of my community and friends due to the constant moves, but online, I had a real contingent of friends who didn't care where I was, as long as the internet worked. Computers gave me access to information and a life outside my immediate struggles and gave me hope to focus on the future. I already loved the creativity of coding, too, as I expanded into personal projects whenever I had the chance. My love for STEM and my hopes to have a stable future where I can help others gave me a second chance at school and college. Being able to achieve a stable job where I can work with the things I love, and then have the funds and skills to let others gain the same freedom I have through computers and the internet has pushed me forward and helped keep me successful. I'm already halfway through my degree program and can safely say that this is the right path at the right time, and I'm grateful to be able to pursue it.

For a long time, the only window I had to the rest of the world was my computer. I'm disabled and transgender. I'm also a first-generation student. My parents desperately wanted me to attend college on-time with my peers, but that also didn't happen. At 27, I'm wrapping up my first year of community college. Even when I was well enough to go out, it was often terrifying to do so. Because of this, I spent a large majority of my free time meeting people through the internet. Most of my friends don't live in the same state as me, and often don't live in the same country. While sometimes it is a struggle not to have many friends in my daily environment, being able to communicate with friends anywhere at any time afforded me an escape from isolation. Because I spend so much time on my computer, it was only natural that I evolved an interest in them. To me, the computer and particularly the Internet was magic- it brought me in connection with practically anyone I wanted, let me escape to other worlds through games, and gives me access to any information I can think of in seconds. I'm especially excited by the process of creating all this content. Even though I could rarely leave my bedroom, the world was still open to me in ways that felt infinite. I may have been physically stifled, but intellectually I could keep growing. I was also very poor and had unstable living situations. I couldn't stay in one place for very long, which ended up making my primarily online friends even better- I didn't have to lose them when I needed to move. Especially with how volatile my illness can be, I also couldn't hold down any jobs I was currently qualified for. Eventually, I applied for SSI, and was finally able to start getting proper healthcare and a more stable place to live. This all took a very long time. Only recently was I able to be well enough to attend school, and I chose to go to school for computer science. All of those circumstances in the few years before starting school made me realize just how much I love programming. I had started learning how to design custom web pages, and from there, picked up Java and Twine. I even started to develop modifications for some of my favorite video games. It was something I loved, and I could even work on it when I was too ill to get out of bed. It was the perfect intersection of something that paid well enough to make a living, and didn't require me to pretend I could work a standard 9-5 job in an office. To save on the immense costs of college, I began my journey at Cuyahoga Community College. I had a humble start my first semester, taking only a few classes totaling about 14 credit hours. I attended mostly online courses, and found support in the form of TRIO SSS. With the help and encouragement of the many staff at the college, I decided to be a bit more ambitious my spring semester. I had managed to earn a 4.0 and stay on top of all my work. I was awarded a place in the Honors Program Fellowship, earned a position as the secretary of the Student Government, developed a major research project, started an internsip with a local nonprofit, and on top of that, started taking 23 credit hours. Throughout the semester I maintained my grades and even secured another internship for the summer. With schooling and work that allows me to balance my health, I've been able to thrive. Knowing the difference distance learning and internet connectivity has made for me, I want to use my education to expand that access even further for others. I couldn't have accomplished all of these things without the support I've had from my school and my work training program. Others deserve that chance, too. I want to uplift disabled adults like me that could really have a much better quality of life if given the ability to connect with others and engage in hobbies from home. I hope to spend my time as a software developer working on accessible software and firmware tools. I also hope I can work within an organization that makes it possible to supply disabled adults with internet access, phones, and computers. With internet access being much less optional, it's very hard to communicate or use services without a way to get online. But, most disabled people live in poverty. That access can be very expensive for people on a very small, fixed income. Working to make sure everyone has equitable access to technology and the internet is incredibly important to me. It changed my life for the better, and I hope that it would bring some small measure of joy and comfort to others, to get to experience the world the way I did, even trapped in my home. The barriers to technology come primarily in the form of cost, but access can also be impeded by poor software design and a lack of consideration for disabled users. I hope my work can change both of these things for the better.

My eating habits are pretty terrible, but not in the way most people expect given my weight. Most days, I can hardly remember to eat at all. In a cycle of constant forgetting, the days I do eat, I end up eating too much. This trapped me and my body in a yo-yo cycle of starvation mode and overeating, damaging my metabolism and ability to maintain my weight. When I was younger, I was very active in sports, and even then I still had a fairly high weight for my age. As I grew older and gained several physical disabilities, it got harder to move, and my health declined in many areas, including my weight. My weight is the least important factor in why I want to get healthier, though. It doesn't seem to really make much difference to me what the scale number says. With the perspective of the mobility and strength I've lost from having these new disabilities, more important to me is what my body can do rather than how it looks. I want to be able to eat consistently. I tend to already eat the right things most of the time. My favorite foods and snacks already tend to be vegetables, nuts and lean proteins like tofu or chicken. The largest problem in my case, is the cycle of overeating and starvation I'm not conscious of. It means I end up eating a lot more than I want to when I do eat, and it's often loaded up in the form of more rice and bread to compensate for the expense of other foods I would rather eat. Sure, I occasionally eat junk food, but that's rarely my personal issue. Eating healthily to me is far more about eating consistent, mindful portions every day, rather than what I'm eating. I've been fortunate enough to be able to through enough physical therapy to get back into my favorite routine: weight training. However, this makes my eating problems even more noticeable and drastic. A couple of times simply due to the fatigue from forgetting to eat anything, I'd go into the gym and collapse in the middle of a workout. When I remember to eat, and I eat consistently, it's easy for me to get through a workout and go about my day. When I forget, it's markedly noticeable, and makes it hard for me to get any real gains from working out. I want to keep working out and getting stronger, and take back what little control I can over my body. This means I need to eat well, eat regularly, and not obsess over food. I plan to keep myself on track by having reminders on when to eat, planning my meals ahead of time, and making sure to take meals at the same time every day. It's not an easy change. I struggle with ADHD and I'm on an intense school schedule at the moment. It's just part of my brain to get caught up in what I'm fixated on and forget basic needs like eating, drinking water, and sleep. It has to change, and I'm committed to making sure it does. As I've been slowly able to receive better treatment for my disabilities, the importance of my eating habits has really started to show. Stronger muscles and a lower weight means I'll get to keep my hard-won mobility. Eating right is just another part of that.

Being patient is something I have always struggled with. I hate waiting on others for answers, paper work processing, assignments, anything. It's hard for me to delegate tasks, too, because I'm always certain I'll get it done faster myself. Patience is not something easy for me. I always hear how patience is described as a virtue, but it's one I've always lacked. The best thing about patience is that it can be an intentional, practiced habit. I take time to focus away from things I'm impatient about, and move on to other things I can get done instead. It's hard to believe that good things come to those who wait, but having the faith that the things I've done already are enough really calms me down and lets me focus on the other things I have yet to accomplish. For me, patience is an exercise in redirecting energy from things I can't change. It's something I'm still practicing. It's hard to be patient in a world full of instant feedback, but most things really can wait. I think the hardest part of dealing with patience is the tendency to get stuck on the one thing I'm waiting for, even though there's so much else I could be doing. It's hard, but focusing on what else is in front of me is really the key to patience. Patience truly improves my outlook. It's a skill worth building. I hope others will take from this that they, too, can improve their patience, and that it will have benefit. I'm much less anxious and stressed when I can unwind my thoughts from urgency.

For most of my adult life, I've been coping with a disability that massively changed how I move through the world. I had to take years to rest and heal. I could hardly leave home because of it. Before that point, I was active in sports and marching band. I loved to run, be outdoors and workout. But, as I got older and my joints started failing rather rapidly, I couldn't do those things anymore. I could hardly walk without my cane, and I was frequently too sick and weak to even fully sit up in bed. In spite of all this, I was able to find a way to move forward and start really achieving the things I always dreamed of. I had so many fears about affording school and my ability to succeed once I got there. Despite this, I enrolled at Cuyahoga Community College. Even though I hadn't been in school for years, I was able to succeed. My first semester in college I earned straight As, attained a position in the Honors Fellowship Program, was elected to an office in Student Government, and began going to the gym again. I plan to use my education in order to be able to work. Most of the jobs I’m currently qualified to perform I can’t, because of my disabilities. But a job I can do from a computer is something I can do, and I’m passionate about. I’m hoping I won’t have to be on SSI anymore, and can fully rely on myself instead of government assistance. It’s really hard to be able to be present for anyone else, either, when I’m so constantly worried about my own health and how little I can afford to take care of it. If I can move forward in my degree pursuits, I’ll be able to earn a real income, one I can say I earned myself, and put that towards helping the people in my life who have supported me on my path here. This took me years to accomplish. And there are still many financial hurdles in the way of my goal . I hope I can use this scholarship to reduce my debt and make my future more possible. The fewer loans I have to take, the more I can give back to others in my situation. Being disabled as a young adult is really hard, and this scholarship would ease a significant amount of that burden.