When reading a list of possible career paths, I was amazed when I realized I could become an engineer. When I turned eighteen, I chose to study Cybernetic Electronics Engineering. This major combines electronics with computer science, so I am not limited to innovating one medium. When studying in a male-dominated field, you learn things out of the course description, such as how hostile the environment is for women, and how male engineers think. In my generation's picture, anyone could spot and count the number of women in STEM in the group. That is the moment I realized: how many years would have to go without engineering inventions made by and for women? In my second year of university, I decided to pursue a double major in Business Management. One of my dreams became the creation of a company that employs women in STEM to develop apps, products, and services for women. However, my dream was almost cut short due to economic problems in my family. I had to take on two part-time jobs while studying both majors to be able to pay for my tuition. Nevertheless, this did not discourage me from pursuing my dream. In the four years I spent at university, I was the leader and developer for multiple projects aimed at improving people's lives. In my first year, I created a light system that alerts deaf people of knocking on their doors. Then, I developed a system based on deep learning that captured and identified car images in parking to count the available spaces and show this information to cars entering the floor. Additionally, I participated in expos aimed at high school students interested in engineering. My goal was to inspire girls to pursue STEM-related majors. I recently graduated with Magna Cum Laude in Cybernetic Electronic Engineering and a Cum Laude in Business Management. One of my last projects is an app that tracks a company's energy consumption in real time with a non-invasive, easy-to-install device made from recycled plastics. However, I need funding to expand this project and to pursue the creation of my company. If I am the scholarship winner, I intend to use the money to launch my project and begin creating my company to employ women and develop engineering solutions to improve people's lives. My mission is to inspire more women to pursue STEM-related majors and break down the gender gap in this environment. I believe engineering needs diverse points of view, and that is the only way to ensure that it is designed for everyone.

When reading a list of possible career paths, I was amazed when I realized I could become an engineer. When I turned eighteen, I chose to study Cybernetic Electronics Engineering. This major combines electronics with computer science, so I am not limited to innovating one medium. When studying in a male-dominated field, you learn things out of the course description, such as how hostile the environment is for women, and how male engineers think. In my generation's picture, anyone could spot and count the number of women in STEM in the group. That is the moment I realized: how many years would have to go without engineering inventions made by and for women? In my second year of university, I decided to pursue a double major in Business Management. One of my dreams became the creation of a company that employs women in STEM to develop apps, products, and services for women. However, my dream was almost cut short due to economic problems in my family. I had to take on two part-time jobs while studying both majors to be able to pay for my tuition. Nevertheless, this did not discourage me from pursuing my dream. In the four years I spent at university, I was the leader and developer for multiple projects aimed at improving people's lives. In my first year, I created a light system that alerts deaf people of knocking on their doors. Then, I developed a system based on deep learning that captured and identified car images in parking to count the available spaces and show this information to cars entering the floor. Additionally, I participated in expos aimed at high school students interested in engineering. My goal was to inspire girls to pursue STEM-related majors. I recently graduated with Magna Cum Laude in Cybernetic Electronic Engineering and a Cum Laude in Business Management. One of my last projects is an app that tracks a company's energy consumption in real time with a non-invasive, easy-to-install device made from recycled plastics. However, I need funding to expand this project and to pursue the creation of my company. If I am the scholarship winner, I intend to use the money to launch my project and begin creating my company to employ women and develop engineering solutions to improve people's lives. My mission is to inspire more women to pursue STEM-related majors and break down the gender gap in this environment. I believe engineering needs diverse points of view, and that is the only way to ensure that it is designed for everyone.

@jessy_segovia_

I am a first-generation American, but my last name reflects Latin history from my ancestors. I am the first person in my family to be born in the U.S. and to speak English as a second language. My parents were interested that I learned English since they believed that I could pursue a better future outside our country. In Mexico, around 11 women are murdered daily because of misogyny. Here, we call it a "feminicidio". But this is not the only type of violence women face when living in Mexico. Assaults, "catcalling", fewer economic possibilities, discrimination, and rape are part of what we have to survive. My parents knew what was happening, and they decided to save money and cross the border legally for me to be born in a safer country. Nevertheless, because of economic limitations, I lived my life in Mexico. I constantly dreamed of building a future in the U.S., but I was not able to study abroad until January 2021. In high school, I graduated from the International Baccalaureate program and received a scholarship to continue my education in Mexico. In January 2021, I started a double degree program at City University of Seattle, which provides me with a scholarship for certain courses. However, there have been moments where I fear I cannot keep paying the tuition. My parents earn money in Mexican currency (20 times less than a dollar). That is the reason I am applying for every scholarship I can. Living through both cultures has impacted who I am today. Because I was able to learn English from a young age, and sign language later on, I volunteer as a translator in a community clinic in my hometown. This has been challenging because I have to switch languages in seconds. Living in the frontier from Mexico to the United States gives me the possibility to observe the differences in which their populations live. For instance, in Mexico, deaf people are discriminated against and do not have the same rights as the rest of the citizens. Helping unprivileged communities has been one of the purposes I began studying engineering. When I started studying Cyber Electric Engineering I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. In Mexico, it is common for deaf people to learn electricity to implement solutions to these problems. When I graduate, I want to search for funding to provide deaf families in my community with this support. With the knowledge acquired in my career, I can build a more dignified world for this community. My motivation in studying engineering is to help others. I believe technology should be oriented to solving problems and providing people in need with solutions rather than generating vast amounts of money. This way of thinking encourages the technology gap to continue existing. Winning this scholarship can help me bring my vision to life. I have many projects planned, but I am currently concerned about paying my school tuition. Five hundred dollars may not seem as much, but they can help me and my parents pay for a whole semester of university.

When I was a girl, my parents encouraged me to seek higher education because they were not able to pursue it on their time because of socio-economical problems and discrimination in Mexico. I am a first-generation American, but my last name reflects Latin history from my ancestors. I am the first person in my family to be born in the U.S. and to speak English as a second language. My parents were interested that I learned English since they believed that I could pursue a better future outside our country. In Mexico, around 11 women are murdered daily because of misogyny. Here, we call it a "feminicidio". But this is not the only type of violence women face when living in Mexico. Assaults, "catcalling", fewer economic possibilities, discrimination, and violence are part of what we have to survive. My parents saw what was happening, and they decided to save money and cross the border legally for me to be born in a safer country. Nevertheless, I always lived my life in Mexico. I constantly dreamed of building a future in the U.S., but because of economic problems, I was not able to study abroad until January 2021. In high school, I graduated from the International Baccalaureate program and received a scholarship to continue my education in Mexico. In January 2021, I started a double degree program at City University of Seattle, which provides me with a scholarship for certain courses. However, there have been moments where I fear I cannot keep paying the tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (20 times less than a dollar). That is the reason I am applying for every scholarship I can. Being Mexican-American means living through both cultures and creating my own. I have the opportunity to learn about Mexican and American traditions while speaking both languages and living on the border of both countries. Tijuana was the city where I grew up, a place where multicultural traditions are present. I got to coexist with Mexicans, Americans, Haitians, Colombians, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, and more. Here, we are all citizens of the world, and frontiers do not limit our understanding. On the other hand, when traveling to the city where I was born, I often experience racism even though I was born there. Having my last name and my accent has caused people to diminish my existence. But I do not feel discouraged to keep on pursuing my dreams. Because of multiculturality, I have learned from many art expressions, and I found my passion for writing novels, poetry, and short stories. My connection to art is more than personal. I often describe my writing as another form of therapy and processing emotions. Nevertheless, I have a significant vision for its purpose. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. In July 2018, I published my first book independently, and since then, I have published two more. I chose this method because of its lower costs since I cannot afford a publishing company. Although this type of publishing is almost free, it does not give me proper publicity to gain money from my books. However, I also do not feel discouraged. One of my motivations is to keep publishing books that include LGBTQ+, POC, deaf, migrants, and women representation. My next novel meets all my requirements. This novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. My goal is to write fulfilling stories with diverse representation so people can feel welcomed in the world and acknowledge their power. My books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers are their fighters. Today, I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I was a kid. I hope to become a role model for young LGBTQ+ girls, to show them that we are valid and capable of anything we dream of. I believe this is one of the many things I have learned from being Latin-American, our differences make us unique in this world, and we should be proud of them. They should not be the reason for discrimination. I try to play my part in promoting inclusion by learning Mexican Sign Language and using my knowledge of engineering to provide deaf families with technological solutions. I am currently interested in learning American Sign Language. This scholarship can support me to bring my publishing vision to life and help me complete my higher education in Business Management at City University of Seattle and Cyber Electric Engineering in Mexico.

I see math everywhere I go. Every object, situation, or question can become a potential formula in my brain. I started learning math before I entered preschool. My mom designed games where I had to find the value of X to deserve TV time. She tells me that surprisingly I was able to solve it on every occasion. For me, math was not another subject in school but a time where I got to play with my understanding of the world. When I started studying high school in the International Baccalaureate program, I had to choose a real-life math problem to find a solution. I developed an investigation about the frequency of violin notes. I created a formula that explained the distance between each key with the value of the frequency (in Hz). Unlike cord instruments like guitar or bass, orchestra instruments do not have a guide for fingers. In my discovering, I found out the distances have a logarithmic behavior. This formula can help instrument professors to place guides for beginners. Since then, I started believing that math can be a tool to narrate reality. Science is a tool to draw reality and make us realize that the world we live in is not at all ordinary. For me, this knowledge of having infinite possibilities to research is fulfilling to my soul, and thus, is a spiritual experience. When I practice mindfulness meditation, I see colors, figures, patterns that have a mathematical foundation. Everything that is appreciated and beautiful has symmetry, numbers, and mathematical behaviors. Even the most simple things can become magnificent explained through science. Last semester, I discovered Ada Lovelace, and that she explained the world using poetical science. Imagination and creativity can help us solve science problems. On the other hand, mathematical approaches can also help us design a poem. Last semester, the poetical science approach helped me to design a computer micro-architecture and to write a mystery novel set in the 1960s. I also created a poem following the Fibonacci series. Now, with the pandemic, I started developing an interest in mathematics in predictions of events. I hope to finish my studies and discover even more ways to help humanity with the magnificent world of numbers. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leave me with little time to keep researching and inventing technology. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

When I started my senior year in high school, I was depressed. I had been battling with anxiety and an eating disorder for the past months. This was the year I had to start applying for my higher education. I had my mind in other places, and I could not come up with a solution to my problems. The only thing I knew was that I had to study in the STEM field. Almost all my life, I have been a writer. Since I learned how to speak, I began telling my family stories, and when I learned to write, I lived through my pages. I wrote in napkins, sides of my school papers, in the notes of my phone, everywhere I could. In addition, I had been playing the violin for seven years. My true passion was to create art oriented to represent oppressed communities. Nevertheless, I lived in Mexico, a place where arts are not supported and education is not enough to become successful in the field. To me and my family, studying to become a writer was not an option. I had other talents, such as a facility to develop mathematics to solve a problem. In my senior year, a physics teacher (who is also the school director) motivated me to develop a math formula. This mathematical approach related the distance in the notes of the violin to the frequency of each one. Since the violin is an instrument with no guide to place the fingers, this formula could be useful for teachers that need to place segments to teach new students. After this creation, the teacher invited me to an exposition to talk about it. This is a yearly exposition where middle and high schoolers visit our school to learn about the programs. My job was to present the physics-mathematics area in high school. I had to teach people about electricity, circuits, impulse, and anything they can achieve in their high school years. That was one of the few days I felt happy knowing that I found an area to study. The teacher helped me understand the basics of electricity, and how it is beautiful to learn about it. His classes were fun, and he made me feel safe in the environment. Nevertheless, I felt that my art dream was lost in time. One day, he sat with us and talked about his other interests apart from STEM. He told us about his rock band and how he was interested in learning about spirituality and traveled for months. I felt inspired by his testimony, and I learned one valuable teaching that day. The career you decide to study will not determine the course of your life. It will give you tools to develop and make a living, but it will not define who you are as a person. Also, you should work on something you know you will not get tired of, and not precisely what you like to do in your spare time. If I had decided to work on writing for a living, I would have grown to hate it eventually. Writing is my life, and will always be because I view it as an opportunity to escape from the world. I am great in STEM, and I should use my knowledge to create a better world for the rest of my community. When it was time to choose my career path for university, I did not doubt in choosing Cyber Electric Engineering, since it can be useful in many areas, such as filmmaking.

In April 2019, I had the opportunity to travel to London and Berlin on a school trip. This experience came with studying International Baccalaureate, a program oriented to help the students develop tools to become citizens of the world. We learned advanced history, tolerance, community service, and different cultures around the world. When we visited Berlin, we had a trip to the Holocaust museums and concentration camps. It made me recognize the importance of having these experiences to grow and become more tolerant. When we visited London, I learned about how people in the war hid inside the underground station, and while traveling in it, I felt the emotions of the people before me. With all this information, I felt inspired to write a novel set in London. "Amada Muerte" is an original novel about a medium boy who discovers that the personification of Death is looking for him. They develop a friendship and talk about life, trying to answer questions that humanity has been asking for a long time. I published it six months after the trip. In my school journey, I have won several scholarships to travel abroad and learn about cultures. I have visited parts of the US, Guatemala, England, Germany, and hopefully soon Prague. When I was little, my parents took me to Cuba, Peru, and Costa Rica. In Guatemala, I learned that in big cities inhumane differences between classes exist. In the same area, poverty and richness can coexist, and there are no efforts to help people in need. In Cuba, I felt inspired by the climate and the sea, and I wrote a short story about a girl that wants to become a writer. In Peru, I learned about the culture and how the colonization disrupted their medical and mathematical advances. In Costa Rica, I experienced living with nature, and how powerful volcanoes have been for civilization. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. This program consists of graduating with a double major, one in Cyber Electric Engineering in Mexico and one in Business Management in Seattle. When studying the program, students are required to have an international experience, and they can choose between summer in Seattle or Prague. In high school, I learned about The Prague Spring, and how small actions from citizens can change the course of history. When investigating the city, I learned that they have ópera and music festivals throughout the year. I am amazed by the images and sounds, that I cannot wait to go. Studying in Prague can help me understand the culture, language, and history of the country. When graduating, I can have a wide perception of global cultures and become aware of the difficulties people live through internationally. In addition to learning about Business Management, I can find inspiration to write a book. Nevertheless, City University does not provide a scholarship. I need to pay the full tuition cost for certain courses and the international experience. My parents and I are working to pay the tuition. Yet, we earn money in Mexican currency (20 times less than a dollar), and my education is due in dollars. Winning this scholarship would mean that I can continue my education since each course costs above 1,000 dollars.

I remember the first time I felt anxiety running through my body. It was the fall of 2006; I was attending elementary school when I felt as if my whole world was upside down. My parents pressured me to have excellent grades, and the thought of not having a perfect score made my heart race in the middle of the day. When I started middle school, my anxiety levels lowered, and I was able to maintain better mental health. Nevertheless, I suffered gender violence in my second year of high school, and it came back worse. With my anxiety, I developed an eating disorder that lasted a whole summer, and it made me lose 17 pounds. After gaining the fight with it, I was able to tell my story. By my side, I always had my best friend, who lived with depression for the past eight years. They were a big support in my journey to survive my eating disorder. Anxiety and eating disorders are still stigmatized in our society. Seeking help is seen as a weakness when in reality shows the strength and willingness to survive. Sometimes, it feels impossible to lower your heart rate, to fill your lungs with air, or to open your mouth to eat. It is a process that requires strength and support from others. In middle school, I began writing novels, and now I have three books published. The book I am currently writing is about a young woman that investigates the murder of a famous writer while struggling with anxiety and depression. My goal in speaking about mental health is to have representation in media and eradicate the myth of the perfect hero that does not experience post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, her mental health is not romanticized but seen as something that needs attention. To people that are living with a mental illness, I would say: although having a mental illness feels like you are at the top of a building and you cannot get off, remember that you are not alone. You matter, you are strong, you are enough.

The thought of making the world a better place using technology is my motivation for pursuing a computer science degree. In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. Since I turned seventeen, I noticed a big problem in my community. I have been studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher since 2018. I discovered the discrimination towards deaf people perpetuated by my hearing community. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is different than living in the United States. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, schools, stores, theaters. Deaf people must survive by writing down their questions and hoping to communicate with hearing people. About 95% of deaf people in Mexico are not familiar with written Spanish, so they must rely on common signs hearing people understand. I had a great interest in learning about the community and how to be able to support them. When I started studying Cyber Electric Engineering, I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. When I graduate, I want to search for funding to provide deaf families with this support. Since my first year in college, I was invited to collaborate with former astronaut José Hernández in the creation of a cansat (a satellite the size of a soda can). My job was to learn the basics of the design and to manually weld electronic components into PCB plates. Last year, my professor, a couple of classmates, and I decided to invent a satellite prototype to prevent and attend wildfires. It was an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically. Also, it can identify danger zones and monitor them. We submitted it to a national competition, and in October of 2020, our project was featured in "Concurso Nacional de Actividades Espaciales Mexico 2020" (National Competition of Space Activities Mexico 2020). Our prototype was one of the four selected in the country to be published by the Mexican Space Agency (Agencia Espacial Mexicana). Nevertheless, due to the pandemic, the construction of our project was delayed. Our team and I need funding to be able to achieve our mission. This scholarship will help me achieve my goals because I have many projects planned, and I am concerned about paying my school tuition. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA and a first-generation American. I am the first person in my family to pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I am currently struggling to pay tuition since my parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and City University tuition is paid in dollars. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and pursue many more.

Thinking of writing is like breathing. The sound of the letters being written is my heartbeat, and the story is my reason for living. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. As I grew up, I wrote stories at the back of my school pages, in the margins, in napkins. When I was twelve years old, I wrote my first poem. At thirteen years old, my first novel. I published my first book at seventeen, and since then, I have three books published: "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de heroína", "Amada Muerte", and "Ánima". The first one is an anthology of real stories about homeless people in Tijuana, Mexico, and their stories about how they became addicted to heroin. This book has the intention to make the homeless community visible and to open a discussion about the correlation between mental health, violence, and substance abuse. The second book is an original novel about a medium boy who discovers that the personification of Death is looking for him. They develop a friendship and talk about life, reviewing historical events, trying to answer questions that humanity has been asking for a long time. The third book contains poems about love, death, trauma, and personal experiences. One of the poems was the inspiration for a short film: "Felicidades, fue niña", which is about women's life in Latin America, and the burden of giving birth to a daughter with the knowledge of what can happen to her in a lifetime. I write poetry to process my feelings, short stories and theater scripts for fun, and novels to express my ideas. Being an artist means everything to me because it is my passion and reason for living. Words flow through me while I am writing. It is the moment where I feel most alive. I cannot picture myself living without being able to tell stories. I live through the day thinking about places, people, and situations to create dialogue. My connection to art is more than personal. I often describe my writing as another form of therapy and processing emotions, however, I have a greater vision for its purpose. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. But almost every memorable story has a male protagonist, and women's stories are categorized as a separate gender. In school, we had to read stories about abusive men and "appreciate the art." I want to change that. Pursuing a creative degree will help me write books that will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. Today, I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I was a kid. My current project is a novel set in the 1960s. The main character is a lesbian woman that investigates the death of his girlfriend's father. Almost all the characters are women and people of color, LGBTQ+, and one of the characters is deaf. The media must portray stories about diverse people so unprivileged communities can feel represented while enjoying an engaging story. My biggest ambition is to become a best-seller author and filmmaker because I want my ideas to change the world. Winning this scholarship can help me search for higher education in arts and complete more projects to fulfill my dream.

Music has encouraged me to pursue my dreams and communicate a message of peace. I have been playing the violin for ten years. I have played in ensembles, in Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana (orchestra), and in school concerts. Playing the violin has taught me discipline and passion. In July 2018, the Opera of Tijuana invited the Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana to play in San Diego, California. It was the first Music en La Calle concert, where we would play opera. In the event, I felt inspired by the musicians, and I started to write my own music. In high school, the violin accompanied me through tough times and saved me when I felt helpless. On multiple occasions, I picked up the violin and my sad feelings would go away. I believe music and passion are the keys to bringing society together. The world could become a better place if we shared our love for music. In February 2020, I created a music piece for a short film that will debut in the future. My job was to compose the theme for a scene where a young girl was being followed home by a man. In my community, this tragic event is recurrent, and crucial to talk about. I had to create a situation where fear and danger were present. This has been one of the most important challenges of my life as a musician. Alongside music, I am a writer. I have three books published independently, and I am currently interested in short film script-writing. My music and my writing will always be in favor of liberty and representation of oppressed communities. I believe my purpose in this world is to seek the freedom of all human beings. If I can make a difference in the music industry, I would like to be a person known for creating an inclusive environment where unrepresented communities can multiply their voices. We need more women, people of color, LGBTQ+, and disabled artists in the industry. We need the world to be explained through their eyes so people from these communities can feel heard. For my higher education, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. In 2023, I will be graduating with Cyber Electric Engineering and Business Management titles. Nevertheless, my parents and I can not finance the school's tuition because we earn money in Mexican currency. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leave me with little time to keep playing the violin and participating in extracurricular activities. Winning this scholarship can help me complete higher education and achieve my dreams.

When thinking about famous figures that inspire me in my path through life, I remember Ada Lovelace. She was a writer and a mathematician that developed the first computer programmer. She is one of the many women that made history in technology and arts. She was not afraid to change the world. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. When I turned seventeen, I published my first book. In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. Ada Lovelace has been my role model since the start of my career because she is proof that I can be successful in both areas. Last semester, I created a computer micro-architecture and named it after her. My ideas flowed from writing to engineering. One of the problems I solved was how to create a mathematical processor, and my inspiration came from a novel I am currently writing. Apart from using my creativity towards engineering, I use my writing skills to portray marginalized communities in my publications. My first anthology is named "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de Heroína" (Mother's tales: Heroine Stories / Stories of Heroin). In Spanish, "Heroína" can mean "a woman superhero" or the drug heroin. My intention in creating this title was to reference my mother's job in helping the homeless community. The stories are about people's journey through life, and how they started consuming heroin and ended up in homelessness. My book states the following: "the purpose of this narrative is to reveal the stories of those who are rejected and discriminated against when they walk on the sidewalks. Those who do not have a voice and want to be heard. For the same reason, I have avoided using names as a metaphor to express to the reader the lack of individuality they suffer in the eyes of society." I still cry when reading my book. People in my community have told me that they learned from the stories and are willing to change their attitudes towards them. When someone buys my book, I sign it with: "We are all walking stories," because it is easy to judge someone based on their situation, but we do not know the series of events that caused them to be homeless. Every one of us is surviving our own wars inside our minds. What makes my artistic gift different is that my goal is to empower oppressed communities. My art will be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. My current project is a novel set in the 1960s. The main character is a lesbian woman that investigates the death of his girlfriend's father. Almost all the characters are women and people of color, and one of the characters is deaf. The media must portray stories about diverse people so unprivileged communities can feel represented. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. But almost every memorable story has a male protagonist, and women's stories are categorized as a separate gender. This must stop, and I am making sure it happens. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency, and my college is in the U.S.A. Working and studying leaves me with little time to keep writing books. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. Studying this engineering major is beneficial for many technological areas. The thought of making the world a better place using technology has run through my mind these last two years. Since then, I constantly look for problems that I can solve. In my Mexican community, deaf people are ignored by society, and no help is provided by the government. I saw this problem in 2018, and I began studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher. My goal was to learn sign language, but I discovered the discrimination towards deaf people perpetuated by my hearing community. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is different than living in the US. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, or schools. In my first semester in college, I created an electric installation that functions as a doorbell. Deaf people can see the lights flicker when there is someone at the door. This project motivated me to keep looking for funding to provide people in need with the technology to improve their lives. My motivation in studying engineering is to help others. I believe technology should be oriented to solving issues and providing people in need with solutions rather than generating vast amounts of money. In my time practicing engineering, I have created a computer micro-architecture, a formula that relates the keys distances in the violin with their frequency, and PBC circuits to create an educational satellite to prevent fires in my community that was published in the Mexican Space Agency. Alongside my physical-mathematical interests, my passion is writing stories. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. At the moment, I have three books published independently on Amazon: linktr.ee/jessy_segovia_libros In my writing, I always include powerful women that are inclined to science. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. Maybe, in the future, I can inspire young girls to pursue their dreams in STEM-related disciplines. I am a first-generation student in the United States. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and to pursue a career in engineering. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams. I have many engineering and artistic projects planned, but I am currently concerned about paying my school tuition. My education is financed in dollars even though my parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar). This scholarship can help me and my family support my aspirations.

I see math everywhere I go. Every object, situation, or question can become a potential formula in my brain. I started learning math before I entered preschool. My mom designed games where I had to find the value of X to deserve TV time. She tells me that surprisingly I was able to solve it on every occasion. For me, math was not another subject in school but a time where I got to play with my understanding of the world. When studying middle school, I entered an advanced group that taught me mathematics content from high school and first year of college. I learned a formula that described the blood flow through the veins with the Pythagoras theorem. Since then, I began to understand that simple terms learned in school could explain various real-life phenomena. When I started studying high school in the International Baccalaureate program, I had to choose between "simple" and "complicated" mathematics. I did not understand why an approach could be classified as "difficult" when all it did was help us narrate reality with our tools. In my second year, I developed an investigation about the frequency of violin notes. I created a formula that explained the distance between each key with the value of the frequency (in Hz). Unlike cord instruments like guitar or bass, orchestra instruments do not have a guide for fingers. In my discovery, I found out the distances have a logarithmic behavior. This formula can help instrument professors to place guides for beginners. Alongside my physical-mathematical interests, my passion is writing novels, stories, and poetry. People ask me how I can be interested in fields that are opposite to each other. The answer is that they are not at all. Ada Lovelace, the pioneer in computer code, stated that she worked through poetical science. Observation, intuition, and lines of thought in science are driven by imagination and interpretation. Last semester, the poetical science approach helped me to design a computer micro-architecture and to write a mystery novel set in the 1960s. I also created a poem following the Fibonacci series. In my writing, I always include powerful women that are inclined to science. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. Maybe, in the future, I can inspire young girls to pursue their dreams in STEM-related fields. Now, with the pandemic, I started developing an interest in mathematics in predictions of events. I hope to finish my studies and discover even more ways to help humanity with the magnificent world of numbers. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leave me with little time to keep writing books and inventing technology. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

English has given me opportunities to pursue my dream career in the United States. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico and the United States. English is my second language since I am a first-generation American. My parents were born in Mexico, and I was born in California. I had the chance to start learning English in kindergarten. My parents come from underprivileged backgrounds, and they were not able to learn the language. That is why, whenever we visit the United States, I function as a translator for them. It was a cultural experience to translate from a young age, but it is the case for people that live near the frontier. Because I have Spanish as my first language, social media and movies have helped me understand these when speaking English. Nevertheless, due to my Hispanic accent, I have experienced racism in the country. These experiences do not discourage me to keep practicing the language and become better every day. Music has encouraged me to pursue my dreams. I have been playing the violin for ten years. I have played in ensembles, in Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana (orchestra), and in school concerts. Playing the violin has taught me discipline and passion. In July 2018, the Opera of Tijuana invited the Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana to play in San Diego, California. It was the first Music en La Calle concert, where we would play opera. In the event, I felt inspired by the musicians, and I started to write my own music. Alongside music, I am a writer. I have three books published independently, and I am currently interested in short film script-writing. The first music piece I created will appear in an independent short film that will debut soon. In high school, the violin accompanied me through tough times and saved me when I felt helpless. On multiple occasions, I picked up the violin and my sad feelings would go away. I believe music and passion are the keys to bringing society together. The world could become a better place if we shared our love for music. In my writing, I strive to communicate positive messages, and in my future short films, I will use music to achieve it. After years of practice, I played my favorite art piece: Vivaldi's Summer Presto. I believe I have fulfilled my dream because my motivation to play this instrument was this song. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qq6smCsWfKfJf11bKoaOzMaSu8CZ8Z6i/view?usp=sharing For my higher education, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. In 2023, I will be graduating with Cyber Electric Engineering and Business Management titles. Nevertheless, my parents and I can not finance the school's tuition because we earn money in Mexican currency. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leaves me with little time to keep playing the violin and participating in extracurricular activities. Winning this scholarship can help me complete higher education and achieve my dreams.

In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. Studying this engineering major is beneficial for many technological areas. For example, when I turned seventeen, I noticed a big problem in my community. Deaf people were being ignored by society, and their needs were not being met. I had a great interest in learning about the community and how to be able to support them. I enrolled in sign language classes and a few years later, I became a sign language teacher. In my first year in college, I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. Since then, I was invited to collaborate with former astronaut José Hernández to create a cansat (a satellite the size of a soda can). With the knowledge acquired in the project, my team and I designed an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically. In October of 2020, our project was featured in "Concurso Nacional de Actividades Espaciales Mexico 2020" (National Competition of Space Activities Mexico 2020). Our prototype was one of the four selected in the country to be published by the Mexican Space Agency. Nevertheless, due to the pandemic, the construction of our project was delayed. Our team and I need funding to be able to achieve our mission. Now, I am interested in learning about biomedical engineering to create less invasive procedures for women's health-related problems. Also, building computer micro-architecture for film productions. My motivation in studying engineering is to help others. I believe technology should be oriented to solving problems and providing people in need with solutions rather than generating vast amounts of money. One of my extracurriculars and passions is playing the violin. I have been practicing since I was ten years old. I was a member of Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana and played in eight concerts a year. This summer, I was allowed to play my favorite piece as a soloist: Vivaldi's Summer Presto. Another one of my passions is writing. I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. At thirteen years old, I wrote my first novel. At seventeen, I published my first independent book, and now I have three books published. What drives me through life is the dream of creating a better world. In writing, my books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. I am currently writing a book that has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leaves me with little time to keep writing books and inventing technology. Winning this scholarship can help me complete higher education and achieve my dreams.

Discovering my identity was the start of a journey to love and accept myself. Being a bisexual Hispanic woman is an act of bravery that inspires me to continue pursuing my passion for writing. I am proud to be part of this community because I believe that the art I create will represent people like me and encourage those who are questioning their identity. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessy_segovia_/

Volunteering for my community changed my perception of making art. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. When I was thirteen years old, I wrote my first novel. At sixteen, I started feeling interested in volunteering work. My mother worked in a health clinic dedicated to attending homeless people in Tijuana, Mexico. Over the summer and part of the semester, I helped her interview patients. Her job was to search for police brutality experiences, mental health issues, heroin consumption, and violent occurrences in homeless people. My mom and I noticed most people's stories started with a violent event that caused depression, and they turned to drugs. I thought that this finding was crucial to creating empathy towards the community. In my town, homeless people are stigmatized and discriminated against by society. People walk past them with disgust and fear. I believed it was my job to create a piece of art that could change people's perceptions and interest them in volunteering to help the community. In December of 2017, I started writing my first published book: "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de Heroína" (Mother's tales: Heroine Stories / Stories of Heroin). In Spanish, "Heroína" can mean "a woman superhero" or the drug heroin. My intention in creating this title was to reference my mother's job. In the community, she is seen as a hero for homeless people. She is selfless, caring, and bold. Also, the stories are about people's journey through life, and how they started consuming heroin and ended up in homelessness. My book states the following: "the purpose of this narrative is to reveal the stories of those who are rejected and discriminated against when they walk on the sidewalks. Those who do not have a voice and want to be heard. For the same reason, I have avoided using names as a metaphor to express to the reader the lack of individuality they suffer in the eyes of society." I still cry when reading my book. People in my community have told me that they learned from the stories and are willing to change their attitudes towards them. When someone buys my book, I sign it with: "We are all walking stories," because it is easy to judge someone based on their situation, but we do not know the series of events that caused them to be homeless. Every one of us is surviving our own wars inside our minds. Volunteering changed my perception of making art. Since I published this book, I decided that my art will empower oppressed communities. It will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest. My next book has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. The novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leave me with little time to keep writing books. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

When thinking about famous figures that inspire me in my path through life, I remember Ada Lovelace. She was a writer and a mathematician that developed the first computer programmer. She is one of the many women that made history in technology and arts. She was not afraid to change the world. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. When I turned seventeen, I published my first book. In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. People tend to ask me how I can enjoy working in fields that are so distinct. The answer is: they are not so different at all. Ada Lovelace said that she used a technique called "poetical science." Intuition and lines of thought in science are driven by imagination and interpretation. Ada Lovelace's life inspires me to continue pursuing my dreams in both fields. She was bold enough to work in a male-dominated field and invent technology based on her writing ideas. My dream is to become an inventor, a best-seller author, and a filmmaker. Last semester, I had a class where we learned about micro-architecture computers, and the professor encouraged us to design our own. The goal was to build a hardware program that could process instructions and save data in the memory. I created my own, and I named it after her: Lovelace Architecture. My teacher pointed out that it was very efficient since almost every process was automatic. My inspiration for this project came from a book I am currently writing: a mystery story that could become an arithmetical-logic unit. What drives me through this journey is the dream of creating a better world. In writing, my books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. My next book has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. In engineering, I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. Last semester, my team and I, created a design for an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically. Now, I am interested in learning about biomedical engineering to create less invasive procedures for women's health-related issues. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leaves me with little time to keep writing books and inventing technology. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

When thinking about famous figures that inspire me in my path through life, I remember Ada Lovelace. She was a writer and a mathematician that developed the first computer programmer. She is one of the many women that made history in technology and arts. She was not afraid to change the world. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. When I turned seventeen, I published my first book. In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. People tend to ask me how I can enjoy working in fields that are so distinct. The answer is: they are not so different at all. Ada Lovelace said that she used a technique called "poetical science." Intuition and lines of thought in science are driven by imagination and interpretation. Last semester, I had a class where we learned about micro-architecture computers, and the professor encouraged us to design our own. The goal was to build a hardware program that could process instructions and save data in the memory. I created my own, and I named it after her: Lovelace Architecture. My teacher pointed out that it was very efficient since almost every process was automatic. My inspiration for this project came from a book I am currently writing: a mystery story that could become an arithmetical-logic unit. What drives me through this journey is the dream of creating a better world. In writing, my books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. My next book has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. In engineering, I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. Last semester, my team and I, created a design for an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically. Now, I am interested in learning about biomedical engineering to create less invasive procedures for women's health-related issues. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and my college is in the U.S.A. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leaves me with little time to keep writing books and inventing technology. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents.

I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. As I grew up, I wrote stories at the back of my school pages, in the margins, in napkins. When I was twelve years old, I wrote my first poem. At thirteen years old, my first novel. Publishing a book was a distant dream to me. I thought I had to wait for someone to discover my talent and publish my art, but I decided to stop dreaming and start acting. It was December 2017 when I decided it was time to publish my book. I had been writing a series of real stories about the situation of homelessness in Tijuana. I helped my mother with a health study about this community and learned their narratives. The pages tell the story of how people became addicted to heroin and lost everything they owned. This book intends to make the homeless community visible and to open a discussion about the correlation between mental health, violence, and substance abuse. During my journey to achieve my dream, I learned the process of independent publishing. It was a try and failure process at first. I had to find a teacher who was willing to help me improve the text. I had to learn the basics of photography and editing for the book cover. The last step was to learn how to publish it on Amazon. Six months later, my book was complete. I published my first independent book at seventeen, and since then, I have three books published: "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de heroína", "Amada Muerte", and "Ánima". For the last two books, I hire local girl artists to design the cover. One of the lessons I carry with me through life is that I must search for information, whether it is for a government application, for school, or for fun. The answers are not always clear as day, but in the process, I learn. Another lesson is that if I want something, I will not stop until I create a plan to achieve it. And the last one: people who are willing to change the world are not discouraged by adversity. I learned that my connection to art is more than personal. I describe my writing as another form of therapy and processing emotions, nevertheless, I have a greater vision for its purpose. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. But almost every memorable story has a male protagonist, and women's stories are categorized as a separate gender. I want to change that. My books will empower oppressed communities. My art will be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. Today, I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I was a kid. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. My parents and I earn money in Mexican currency, and my college is in the U.S.A. I try to help my parents with my education by working a part-time job, but it is not enough. Working and studying leave me with little time to keep writing books. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and lift some weight off my parents. My next book has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. The novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. My biggest ambition is to become a best seller author and filmmaker because I want my ideas to change the world. Thinking of writing is like breathing. The sound of the letters being written is my heartbeat, and the story my reason for living.

In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. Studying this engineering major is beneficial for many technological areas. After I turned seventeen, I noticed a big problem in my community. Deaf people were being ignored by society, and their needs were not being met. I had a great interest in learning about the community and how to be able to support them. I have been studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher since 2018. My goal was to learn sign language, but I discovered the discrimination towards deaf people perpetuated by my hearing community. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is very different than living in the United States. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, schools, stores, theaters. When I started studying Cyber Electric Engineering I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. In Mexico, it is common for deaf people to learn electricity to implement solutions to these problems. When I graduate, I want to search for funding to provide deaf families in my community with this support. With the knowledge acquired in my career, I can build a more dignified world for this community. This thought of making the world a better place using technology has run through my mind these last two years. Since then, I constantly look for problems that I can solve. Last year, my professor, a couple of classmates, and I decided to invent a satellite prototype. I was the only woman on the team. We knew a difficulty that my community faces are the occurrence of wildfires. Creating an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically could solve the problem. Our idea was to design a prototype that can identify danger zones and monitor them. We worked for seven months and finally submitted it to a national competition. In October of 2020, our project was featured in "Concurso Nacional de Actividades Espaciales Mexico 2020" (National Competition of Space Activities Mexico 2020). Our prototype was one of the four selected in the country to be published by the Mexican Space Agency. Nevertheless, due to the pandemic, the construction of our project was delayed. Our team and I need funding to be able to achieve our mission. When I graduate, I intend to search for it to complete the project. At the moment, I am interested in learning about biomedical engineering to create less invasive procedures for women's health-related issues. I believe the lack of innovation in these areas is deeply rooted in obstetric violence and sexism. That is the reason why women are needed in STEM fields. We need to start taking action to improve our lives. My motivation in studying engineering is to help others. I believe technology should be oriented to solving problems and providing people in need with solutions rather than generating vast amounts of money. This way of thinking encourages the technology gap to continue existing. Winning this scholarship can help me bring my vision to life. I have many projects planned, but I am currently concerned about paying my school tuition. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA and a first-generation American. My education is paid in dollars even though my parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar). This scholarship can help me and my family support my dreams.

In August of 2019, I started my career in Cyber Electric Engineering. This profession is unique since it is a combination between electrical engineering and computer science. Studying this engineering major is beneficial for many technological areas. Nevertheless, in my whole generation, there are only two women. One of them is me. Since I turned seventeen, I noticed a big problem in my community. Deaf people were being ignored by society, and their needs were not being met. I had a great interest in learning about the community and how to be able to support them. I have been studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher since 2018. My goal was to learn sign language, but I discovered the discrimination towards deaf people perpetuated by my hearing community. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is very different than living in the United States. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, schools, stores, theaters. Deaf people must survive by writing down their questions and hoping to communicate with hearing people. About 95% of deaf people in Mexico are not familiar with written Spanish. They must rely on common signs hearing people understand to even ask for a ticket to the theater. Over the years, I have helped deaf people communicate in theaters, bars, on the street, in schools, and even at medical clinics. But I will not stop there. When I started studying Cyber Electric Engineering I created a house light installation that functions as a doorbell for deaf people. In Mexico, it is common for deaf people to learn electricity to implement solutions to these problems. When I graduate, I want to search for funding to provide deaf families with this support. Every time a person learns sign language, the world becomes a better place. With the knowledge acquired in my career, I can build a more dignified world for this community. This thought of making the world a better place using technology has run through my mind these last two years. Since then, I constantly look for problems that I can solve. Since my first year in college, I was invited to collaborate with former astronaut José Hernández in the creation of a cansat (a satellite the size of a soda can). My job was to learn the basics of the design and to manually weld electronic components into PCB plates. Last year, my professor, a couple of classmates, and I, with the knowledge of the past collaboration, decided to invent a satellite prototype. I was the only woman on the team. We knew a difficulty that my community faces are the occurrence of wildfires. Creating an intelligent satellite that detects fires and notifies the firefighters automatically could solve the problem. Our idea was to design a prototype that can identify danger zones and monitor them. We worked for seven months and finally submitted it to a national competition. In October of 2020, our project was featured in "Concurso Nacional de Actividades Espaciales Mexico 2020" (National Competition of Space Activities Mexico 2020). Our prototype was one of the four selected in the country to be published by the Mexican Space Agency (Agencia Espacial Mexicana). Nevertheless, due to the pandemic, the construction of our project was delayed. Our team and I need funding to be able to achieve our mission. Last semester, I had a class where we learned about micro-architecture computers, and the professor encouraged us to design our own. The goal was to build a hardware program that could process instructions and save data in the memory. I created my own, and I named it after an important figure in writing and computer science: Lovelace. My teacher pointed out that my architecture was very efficient. Almost every process was automatic. Overall, in my classes, I stand out with my projects. At the moment, I am interested in learning about biomedical engineering to create less invasive procedures for women's health-related issues. I believe the lack of innovation in these areas is deeply rooted in obstetric violence and sexism. That is the reason why women are needed in STEM fields. We need to start taking action to improve our lives. Being a woman in STEM is difficult. I feel that every decision I make, and every grade I get is a direct representation of my gender. My classmates can fail in their classes, and people will perceive it as if the individual is failing. On the other hand, if I fail, people will perceive that women are not good enough for the field. This problem is rooted in the lack of women in STEM. I intend to change that. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am concerned about paying my school tuition. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA and a first-generation American. I am the first person in my family to pursue a career in business and engineering. In January 2021, I started studying a double degree program at City University of Seattle. I am currently struggling to pay tuition since my parents and I earn money in Mexican currency (twenty times less than a dollar), and City University tuition is paid in dollars. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams and pursue many more.

When I turned seventeen, I noticed a big problem in my community. Deaf people were being ignored by society, and their needs were not met. I had a great interest in learning about the community and how to be able to support them. I have been studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher since 2018. My goal was to learn sign language, but I discovered the discrimination towards deaf people perpetuated by my own hearing community. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is very different than living in the United States. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, schools, stores, theaters. Deaf people must survive by writing down their questions and hoping to communicate with hearing people. About 95% of deaf people in Mexico are not familiar with written Spanish. They must rely on common signs hearing people understand to even ask for a ticket to the theater. Since I started learning signs, I began noticing these difficulties. For these reasons, I created a sign language student group to teach them about the culture and language. I became a Mexican Sign Language teacher in July 2020. Since then, I have taught to almost twenty students. I can say I have noticed a visible change in my community because of it. One of my students works in a hardware store, and she interprets for her deaf clients. Another one works at a cafe, and she does the same. Every time a person learns signs, the world becomes a better place. Over the years, I have helped deaf people communicate in theaters, bars, on the street, in schools, and even at medical clinics. I have been working as a volunteer in a clinic that attends risk populations. My job is to interpret for deaf patients. I have noticed a significant effect in the community because of this. When I interpreted for my first patient, more of them started coming because they realized someone was there to help. This journey has helped me understand a better part of myself, since I love to help others in need. In April 2019, I made a fundraising art event to provide free therapy by psychologists who know MSL for the deaf community. The event had interpreters for the deaf guests, and all the publicity was in Spanish and MSL. We raised approximately 600 dollars. I discovered that living as a deaf person is like being invisible to society. You receive no support and suffer from discrimination. I intend to change that. Every student that I teach leaves the classroom knowing they can change the world for the better. Learning sign language is a small effort that can change hundreds of lives. Deaf people in Mexico are hardly employed by hearing people, and most of them live in poverty. With the pandemic, the small amount who had a job lost it because of the economic crisis. Since last semester, with the help of my mother, we deliver food and supplies for deaf families. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA. I am a first-generation American. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and to pursue a career in engineering. This scholarship can help me conclude my studies in college and continue supporting deaf families with food and supplies. I am currently struggling to pay tuition since my parents and I earn money in Mexican currency, and my college is in the U.S.A. Winning this scholarship can help me achieve my dreams.

Publishing a book was a distant dream to me. I thought I had to wait for someone to discover my talent and publish my art, but I decided to stop dreaming and start acting. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. As I grew up, I wrote stories at the back of my school pages, in the margins, in napkins. When I was twelve years old, I wrote my first poem. At thirteen years old, my first novel. I am a second-generation student in college, and first-generation in the United States. I am the first person in my family to become a writer and to pursue a career in engineering. It was December 2017 when I finally decided it was time to publish my first book. I had been writing a series of real stories about the situation of homelessness in Tijuana. I helped my mother with a health study about this community and learned their narratives. The pages tell the story of how people became addicted to heroin and lost everything they owned. This book has the intention to make the homeless community visible and to open a discussion about the correlation between mental health, violence, and substance abuse. During my journey to achieve my dream, I learned the process of independent publishing. It was a try and failure process at first. I had to find a teacher who was willing to help me improve the text. I had to learn the basics of photography and editing to create a book cover. The very last step was to learn how to publish it in Amazon Kindle. Six months later, my book was complete. I published my first independent book at seventeen, and since then, I have three books published: "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de heroína", "Amada Muerte", and "Ánima". For the last two books, I hire local girl artists to design the cover. One of the lessons I carry with me through life is that I must search for information, whether it is for a government application, for school, or for fun. The answers are not always clear as day, but in the process, I learn. Another lesson is that if I want something, I will not stop until I create a plan to achieve it. And the last one: people who are willing to change the world are not discouraged by adversity. This scholarship will help me achieve my goal because I have many projects planned, and I am currently worried about paying my school tuition. One of my motivations is to keep publishing books that include LGBTQ+, POC, deaf, and women representation. My next novel meets all my requirements. It is set in the 1960s, with a love and mystery story during the Cold War. This novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. My goal is to write fulfilling stories with diverse representation so that people can feel welcomed in the world and acknowledge their power. My books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. Today, I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I was a kid. I hope to someday become a role model for young LGBTQ+ girls, to show them that they are valid and capable of anything they dream of.

Thinking of writing is like breathing. The sound of the letters being written is my heartbeat, and the story my reason for living. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Mexico-USA, and I have been writing for almost fifteen years. Before I learned to read, I drew comics and told my family stories. As I grew up, I wrote stories at the back of my school pages, in the margins, in napkins. When I was twelve years old, I wrote my first poem. At thirteen years old, my first novel. I published my first book at seventeen, and since then, I have three books published: "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de heroína", "Amada Muerte", and "Ánima". The first one is an anthology of real stories about homeless people in Tijuana, Mexico, and their stories about how they became addicted to heroin. This book has the intention to make the homeless community visible and to open a discussion about the correlation between mental health, violence, and substance abuse. The second book is an original novel about a medium boy who discovers that the personification of Death is looking for him. They develop a friendship and talk about life, reviewing historical events, trying to answer questions that humanity has been asking for a long time. The third book contains poems about love, death, trauma, and personal experiences. One of the poems was the inspiration for a short film: "Felicidades, fue niña", which is about women's life in Latin America, and the burden of giving birth to a daughter with the knowledge of what can happen to her in a lifetime. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/EqztDLDfGn0 I write poetry to process my feelings, short stories and theater scripts for fun, and novels to express my ideas. Being an artist means everything to me because it is my passion and reason for living. Words flow through me while I am writing. It is the moment where I feel most alive. I cannot picture myself living without being able to tell stories. I live through the day thinking about places, people, and situations to create dialogue. My connection to art is more than personal. I often describe my writing as another form of therapy and processing emotions, nevertheless, I have a greater vision for its purpose. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. But almost every memorable story has a male protagonist, and women's stories are categorized as a separate gender. In school, we had to read stories about abusive men and "appreciate the art." I want to change that. My books will empower oppressed communities. My art will always be in favor of diversity and inclusion. For me, writing is a form of protest, and the writers their fighters. Today, I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I was a kid. My next book has women, POC, deaf people, and LGBTQ+ representation. It is set in the 1960s and contains a love and mystery story during the Cold War. The novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. My biggest ambition is to become a best seller author and filmmaker because I want my ideas to change the world.

I want to bring visibility and inclusion to the deaf community by teaching students sign language and the difficulties they have to experience to live in a hearing-dominated world. I have been studying Mexican Sign Language (MSL) with a deaf teacher since august 2018. He made sure every one of his students understood the daily struggles a deaf person has to live through to survive in a world designed by hearing people. In Mexico, living as a deaf person is very different than living in the United States. Interpreters are expensive, and Mexican Sign Language is not as frequent as in other countries. There are no interpreters in hospitals, government departments, schools, stores, theaters. Deaf people have to survive by writing down their questions and hoping to communicate with hearing people. About 95% of deaf people in Mexico are not familiar with written Spanish. They have to rely on common signs hearing people understand to even ask for a ticket to the theater. Since I started learning signs, I began noticing these difficulties. Even in television, when by law there has to be a visible interpreter, the square is small and it is difficult for people to see. For this reason, I created a sign language student group to teach them about both culture and language. I became a Mexican Sign Language teacher in July 2020. Since then, I have taught to almost twenty students. I can say I have noticed a visible change in my community because of it. One of my students works in a hardware store, and she interprets for her deaf clients. Another one works at a cafe, and she does the same. Every time a person learns signs, the world becomes a better place. Over the years, I have helped deaf people communicate in theaters, bars, on the street, in schools, and even at medical clinics. I have been working as a volunteer in a clinic that attends risk populations. My job is to interpret for deaf patients. I have noticed a significant effect in the community because of this. When I interpreted for my first patient, more of them started coming because they realized someone was there to help. My goal is to bring knowledge to people about the struggles the deaf community has to face for them to act to solve them. For starters, a common misconception people have is that deaf people are not able to speak. This is wrong and considered disrespectful by many deaf people. Because hearing people are not aware of this, discrimination is constant. As a result, they are not interested in learning about this. Deaf people have evolved to live in their own small circle because of this, and hearing people live as if deaf people do not exist. In April 2019, I made a fundraising art event to provide free therapy by psychologists who know MSL for the deaf community. The event had three interpreters for the deaf guests, and all the publicity was in Spanish and MSL. My team and I raised approximately 600 dollars. Deaf people in Mexico are hardly employed by hearing people, and most of them live in poverty. With the pandemic, the small amount who had a job lost it because of the economic crisis. Since last semester, with the help of my mother, we deliver food and supplies for deaf families. Living as a deaf person in Latin America is like being invisible to your country. You receive no support and suffer from discrimination. I intend to change that. Every student that I teach leaves the classroom knowing they can change the world for the better. Learning sign language is a small effort that can change hundreds of lives.

Ada Lovelace is my biggest inspiration in STEM and writing. I admire her because of her boldness and poetic science that gave her the ideas for her projects. I am studying Cyber Electric Engineering, and my passion is to write novels. Ada Lovelace shows that we can be outstanding in both areas.

The first time I realized I was LGBTQ+ was back in 2020. Asking yourself the question is a crucial step towards self-discovery. The first night I was aware of this irrefutable truth, I could not sleep because I knew my life would change. I am a twenty-year-old sapphic woman living in Mexico-USA. I have experienced the differences between LGBTQ+ people in both countries and how they are perceived by their straight peers. My journey towards acceptance has been challenging, at least. My friends saved me. When I was in the process of discovering my authentic self, most of my friends were on the same course, and I felt valid when spending time with them. My LGBTQ+ friends are brave, insightful, and determined. But it is hard to believe that about me when half the world makes me feel otherwise. The first time I felt scared to be LGBTQ+ was last month. I visited a trans friend in her workplace, and I had to ask a coworker for her, but I did not know what pronouns to use, since I did not know if she was out. I had to say her dead name for the coworker to recognize her. I felt powerless because I realized that my friend has to pretend to be someone else in public to be respected. Was that my situation? I am scared of holding a woman's hand in public, of coming out to my family, of falling in love, and having to pretend otherwise. I feel as if the world was not made for me to find true love. But I am also aware that this can change. The first time I watched "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" and "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" I stopped feeling alone. There are amazing stories about women that love women and seem confident about it. I feel more valid when I can see myself represented in the media. As a writer myself, my goal is to portray these stories and give LGBTQ+ people confidence in themselves. My next novel includes LGBTQ+ and women representation in the 1960s, with a love and mystery story during the Cold War. The novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging narrative. It is essential to have fulfilling stories with diverse representation for people to feel welcomed in the world, and for the rest to learn about us. I am writing the book I wish I would have read when I first started questioning my sexual orientation. The first step towards acceptance is to see a world where people like us are accepted and respected, where we do not need bravery to stand up and be our most authentic selves. That is my dream.

Society can effectively empower women by stop romanticizing violence. I am a twenty-year-old woman living in Latin America, and I know what it feels like to fight for your life every second you are alive. In my country, 11 women are murdered every single day. All of us suffer gender violence throughout our lives, and most are raped at least once in a lifetime. We live in fear that we will be next in this endless list of victims, and our mothers dread that we will not make it home at the end of the day. Women like me have claims, and one of them is that they let us live another day. We have been fighting for freedom, equality, and justice. These demands are not unknown to the government, the people, and society, but they choose to ignore us. In this situation, empowering seems like the first and last step towards our freedom. Women need to acknowledge their power to feel that they can fight for their rights, and once they have justice, they need to empower to achieve what they wish for. How can we empower them? Our representation in media must change. Women like me are tired of consuming the same story about a boy who is in love with a girl, and fights for his love to be reciprocated, even though the girl declined in the first place. The story about a girl who chooses her boyfriend instead of her education. Or the story about an abusive husband and a forgiving wife. Stories about women dreaming for a man to swipe them off their feet and commit eternally to their love. We need to stop that. The media has a major role in determining how people love and how they tolerate abuse. In my country, most femicides (women being murdered for their gender), happen because of jealous partners that believe "If you don't belong to me, you don't belong to anyone". This creates an environment where women are educated to believe that love is all they must wish for, and men believe that they can own women. The media must portray stories about powerful women so young girls can feel represented. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. But almost every memorable story has a male protagonist, and women's stories are categorized as a separate gender. In school, we had to read stories about men that were abusive and "appreciate the art". This must stop. The government must listen to our claims. We have tried everything to ensure justice to our peers, but it seems that it is not enough. Women's empowerment feels threatened when after all the protests we achieve nothing but the hate of everyone around us, who fail to see the injustices we are living in. The first step towards our empowerment and liberation is to stop romanticizing violence. Maybe then, women will speak up about what is happening to them. And society can be aware of the injustices women face. The answer is to start making filmmakers and content creators accountable for the inaccurate representation of women and violence in their media and demand better writing. As a result, girls and women can feel empowered to start pursuing their dreams, instead of feeling they must fulfill a stereotype to be valid in a society where you need to fight for your freedom.

My biggest ambition is to become a bestseller author and filmmaker because I want my ideas to change the world. In the past, I have published three books. "Cuentos de mamá: Historias de heroína", "Amada Muerte", and "Ánima". The first one is an anthology of real stories about homeless people in Tijuana, Mexico, and their stories about how they became addicted to heroin. This book has the intention to make the homeless community visible and to open a discussion about the correlation between mental health, violence, and substance abuse. The second book is an original novel about a medium boy who discovers that the personification of Death is looking for him. They develop a friendship and talk about life, trying to answer questions that humanity has been asking for a long time. The third book contains poems about love, death, trauma, and personal experiences. One of the poems was the inspiration for a short film: "Felicidades, fue niña", which is about the life of women in Latin America, and the burden to give birth to a daughter with the knowledge of what can happen to her in her lifetime. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/EqztDLDfGn0 This scholarship can help bring my vision to life because I study Cyber Electric Engineering in Mexico, and my parents and I are paying for my education. I have no time left to work extra hours to save money for my publication and future film adaptation. My last books were published with the help of my peers, but I no longer have that help. My next novel includes LGBTQ+, POC, deaf, and women representation in the 1960s, with a love and mystery story during the Cold War. The novel can help these communities feel validated while reading an engaging story. It is essential to have fulfilling stories with diverse representation so that people can feel welcomed in the world and acknowledge their power. When I was a kid, I wished for books and movies to be about girls like me, showing that we can be powerful, insightful, strong, and determined. My writing strives to fulfill this goal. My dream is to show people amazing stories to think about where they can feel represented. Thank you for the opportunity. -Jessica Segovia