A challenge that I have experienced while pursuing my education is socializing with my peers. For context, I have been a part of the Bayside Engineering and Technology Academy (BETA) at Bayside High School for my entire high school experience. Everyone in the academy relatively takes the same classes, so the only people I have been in learning environments with are those in my grade and the academy as well. BETA is highly reflective of the minimal diversity within the engineering field, which made it uncomfortable for me to socialize with others. Furthermore, many of the students in the academy went to the same middle school, other than me, and they already formed their friend groups early in my freshman year. It made me feel lonely and like an outsider, and by the time I reached my junior year, I realized how important it was to have friends who shared common interests. Ever since being an upperclassman, I have been reaching out and talking to other people in my academy. I have gone to more school events, participated in more extracurricular activities, and hung out with friends outside of school. This has helped me with many academic challenges, one being understanding difficult classes. I find myself having an easier time with my classes since I can study with my friends. Also, at the beginning of the school year, I would study for the SAT with other BETA students. This not only improved my relationships with others but also made SAT preparation less stressful and more fun. Moreover, outside of academics, having other people to talk to improves my mental health, as it is calming to be able to hang out with others and not have to worry about school. One thing I have been passionate about is increasing STEM’s reach to minorities, especially women. Being in BETA sheds light on the lack of women participating in the STEM field. I believe it is important to increase diversity because minority groups can provide alternate perspectives or solutions on certain issues that majority groups have not experienced. For two years, I have volunteered for an organization called Girls In STEM, which helps women learn about the engineering field. I would travel to many different elementary schools in the area and would host booths that would teach girls about STEM. For example, there were booths about computer, civil, and mechanical engineering. My specific role was to teach how to use the Lego Education Spike set and show how it is implemented in computer science and engineering. I would provide a tutorial on what Spike is and then help the girls build a mini rover using the education set. At every elementary school I went to, the girls would not show much interest at first and most of them thought that building and coding was for boys. However, later they would become extremely engaged with the material they were learning. And most importantly, they were enjoying what they were working on. Some girls that I taught from my first year even came back again for my second year, which made me happy. Knowing that my efforts are spreading interest in a field I love motivates me to continue working for organizations like this, which I plan to do. I want to show others that women are completely capable of learning and experiencing a field that is traditionally male-dominated.

The greatest difficulty I have faced in high school is time management. When I was in elementary or middle school, I was not worried about how I spent my time. When I got home, I would finish my homework in fifteen minutes and then watch television for the rest of the day. All of that changed during my sophomore year of high school. I started taking dual enrollment classes and began Engineering I. I also participated in the Marching Band as an extracurricular, which took up four out of my five school days. Within a few months of that school year, I started experiencing stress. I found myself procrastinating on assignments and not paying attention in class. I quickly needed to find a way to complete my academic and extracurricular responsibilities, so I made time to ensure I finished my homework and studied enough for my classes. That meant I had to do almost everything on my one free school day from Marching Band. On that day, I would complete most of the homework that I had. I did the rest of my homework on the weekends. I followed this system for the remainder of my sophomore year and it worked! However, during my junior year, this problem arose again. The workload into my junior year was much heavier. I was taking more classes for dual enrollment and was also taking AP Calculus. By November of my junior year, I was burnt out. So I developed a new system, which I still use now. I use a calendar to write down the due dates for all of my assignments and any events I have for my extracurriculars. I also use the calendar to plan out my week. Ever since adopting this system, my school life and personal life have been easier to manage. The community I want to help the most is high school students. After spending three years in high school, I understand how difficult it is to stay on track when there are so many other factors in life. Fortunately, I have already started working toward this ambition. After becoming president of the engineering academy at my high school, I decided to focus on helping other students manage their time. I have planned to speak to all of the members of the academy about time management and find additional speakers to give speeches as well. I am also in the works of developing a system that will enable extracurricular staff, such as a band director, to inform teachers that their student has a busy week due to their extracurriculars. Lastly, I plan to conduct workshops where students can learn the same time management skills I learned during my sophomore and junior year. However, I do not want this to be limited to the students in the academy, I am also willing to help any student who is having trouble with time-management issues. I believe that teaching students about this will be beneficial not only for high school but for higher education as well.

My interest in computer science began with my brother, who taught me at a young age the different components of electronic machines that are commonly found in homes. I would watch him take apart a laptop or television and put it back together. Moreover, as I was growing up, having access to the internet allowed me to research more about computing machines that many consumers use daily, which furthered my interest in how phones, laptops, desktops, etc are made. In middle and high school, learning the basics of coding intrigued me with the topic of computer programing. In my sophomore year, I was able to use a raspberry pi and program the components of a breadboard with it. I have done several different lab experiments with the raspberry pi, which revealed to me how much I enjoy working with computers. I am extremely open-minded about what job I get after receiving my degree. However, for my dream job, I would like to work for a major technology company that makes products consumers use daily. For example, Apple, Samsung, or LG. Specifically, I want to focus on producing phones and computers that can influence the future of consumer use; by adding useful features and making the technology more convenient. Furthermore, I want tech to be more accessible to low-income households. The products that are being released by Apple and Samsung are usually priced in the thousands, which makes it difficult for low-income families to buy. In the future, I see myself working with these major companies to allow poor families to receive high-quality products. I feel I am the best candidate for this scholarship because of my dedication and work ethic. I have put a mass amount of effort into my academics and would like to continue to put in more effort. My family will not be able to pay for my college, but I do not want to give up after high school. I have created such an interest in STEM that I am willing to do what is needed to ensure that I can have a future STEM career. At my high school, I entered BETA (Bayside Engineering and Technology Academy) to further my academics in engineering. Not only that, but I am working towards my AA degree, which has given me a small taste of college. It has provided the experience of the formality more work has to be done in order to have success within University.