I took a deep breath and slowed down as I approached two heavy glass-tinted doors. Fear and sheer panic engulfed me as I stalled, looking around in hopes of recognizing any of my classmates. Nothing but those doors were gatekeeping me from entering a room in a building that championed opportunities in STEM and innovation, or at least that’s what the sign next to it said. I braced myself and pushed through the doors. I was one of fifteen others; nine males and five other females filled the sizeable room. As I settled into my seat and took in the first few moments of my first college STEM class, I felt welcomed by it all — the plethora of people donning hoodies, the collective click-cacking of keyboards, and the genuine look of interest on everyone’s faces as we delved into the syllabus. As a rising sophomore with intentions now to major in computer science, the thought of being the minority in a sea of male students doesn’t quite scare me anymore like it used to. I was never a robotics fanatic, but I was blessed to have been introduced to coding quite early on in high school thanks to a coding program I took part in at a non-profit organization called America On Tech. After graduating from the program at America On Tech, I became a peer mentor and guided high school students of my own age on enhancing their coding abilities through their web development projects. I was their Hermione - someone on the front lines when it came to figuring out why a bright red error message appeared after running someone’s code. It never hit me that my role could impact people until I received a warm hug from a female student struggling to keep up during class due to being absent from the week prior. As an alumna of the same program, I developed more than an interpersonal connection with that female student. My role as a peer mentor made me realize how empowered I felt for instilling confidence in others. My experience as a peer mentor was the catalyst for wanting to challenge societal norms in STEM and pursue computer science as an academic passion in college. Most of all, my experiences as an educator in the tech realm encouraged me to become a computer science student so that I could one day be able to pay my knowledge forward to others. Maya Angelou had once compellingly said, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” These heartening words entail the person I want to become in the future. At Vassar, I am president of the Vassar Asian American Studies Working Group, a designer for Portrait, an Asian American magazine, and most importantly to me, I am secretary of the Gender Inclusivity in STEM club. I strive to be a pioneer for young minority students and yearn to show them that inclusivity in the STEM industry does exist by starting nationwide organizations that promote more STEM education in the classroom and under-resourced communities. During my undergraduate years, I hope to create and file a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting STEM education throughout communities in the United States that need it the most. In addition, I aspire to create a specialized tech conference in the future, specifically dedicated to tech educators to help build more resources within this underrated, but vital intersection of technology. My mission is to help lead the next generation of talented students into the pipeline so that one day Silicon Valley can be made a place for everyone - even minorities.