I have always felt that technical skills don't mean much if they aren't being used to help real people. By studying Mathematics, minoring in Computer Science, and earning a Data Science certificate at the University of Utah, my goal is to use analytical problem-solving to directly support community care. Over the past few years, I have logged more than 190 hours volunteering with local non-profits, which taught me that the best work comes from simply recognizing a need and stepping up. For instance, as the VP of Technology for the National Honors Society, I co-founded a project to fix the cold, clinical feel of medical spaces. Alongside four friends, I spent fifteen hours on a Saturday painting a welcoming mural at Integrated Autism Therapies. Because my two stepbrothers have autism, I knew firsthand how deeply a stark environment can affect a sensitive child. I wanted to build a calm, comforting space for families navigating stressful days. Seeing the genuine gratitude from the facility owners and the comfort it brought to the kids showed me exactly how I want to use my math and tech background moving forward. I took a similar approach to leadership as President of the Girls Advisory Board, where I spent 45 hours running non-profit day camps for younger Girl Scouts. During a STEM-themed camp, several girls arrived completely intimidated, complaining that science and tech were too frustrating or boring. By breaking coding down into accessible logic puzzles and offering patient mentorship, we helped them build real confidence. Watching their eyes light up when a concept finally clicked showed me that good leadership is about empowering the people around you to succeed. Down the road, I plan to use data science to help charitable organizations and tribal communities operate more effectively. As a member of the Cherokee Nation, I want to develop accessible, open-source digital platforms to preserve our indigenous languages and cultural stories, keeping disconnected youth tied to their heritage. I genuinely love sitting down with someone who is frustrated and walking them through a problem step-by-step until it makes sense, and I want to bring that same patience to larger community initiatives. The Our Destiny Our Future Scholarship matches the exact values of community responsibility I live by. This funding will allow me to balance a heavy academic workload with my public service goals, ensuring that my education directly benefits the communities that need it most.

To me, college is a place to advance your knowledge and prepare for the future. In this day and age, especially in the state that I live, college is a necessity to get even entry level jobs. This made receiving a higher education a mandatory step in my life. Luckily, I love learning. I am currently in my first year of college at the University of Utah, but I am technically considered a Junior because I transferred from high school with 60 college credits. I am majoring in mathematics, minoring in computer science, and pursuing a certificate in data science. Honestly, college is a lot different than I expected. In my final year of high school I took 4 college classes and so college just feels like high school with the only difference being I am not living with my family. Even so, it has been a lot of fun being a college student. I have had the opportunity to participate in many activities, meet lots of new people, and learn many new interesting things. Even with just a semester of college, I have learned so much about my two favorite subjects (mathematics and computer science) and it has been a place where I can truly be myself and meet others that I get along with. Plus I get to be exposed to many new and differing opinions and ideas. College is a place where I am not only able to grow my knowledge, but I am also able to grow as a person. By achieving my degree in mathematics, minor in computer science, and certificate in data science, I can look for a job as a data analyst or data scientist. I believe that I would enjoy this job and also get paid enough to support myself and the future family that I plan to have. Plus that job would allow me to use all of the information that I accumulated in college as it combines math and computer science. Ultimately, I have a simple, but most likely unrealistic, dream of being able to work at a job I love. I've found that when I go into my classes that are mathematics or computer based, time flies by and by the end I just want to continue working instead of going home. I hope to find a job that I love so much that it doesn't feel like work.

Hi, my name is Lily and I am a first year at the University of Utah. I am majoring in Mathematics, minoring in Computer Science, and pursuing a certificate in Data Science. My parents got divorced when I was in elementary school and I got in a car crash in middle school that made it so if I sit for long periods of time my hip goes out of place. Despite these setbacks, during high school I worked hard and was able to graduate valedictorian (out of 781 students) and accumulate 60 college credits so I am technically considered a Junior at my university. I've been interested in Mathematics since elementary school. I've always considered it like solving a puzzle or a riddle. Your teacher would teach you how to do it or 'give you the clue to the riddle' and then from there you had to figure out how to properly use that information. I would come home from school begging my older sister to teach me what she learned in math that day. In 5th grade I participated in a math competition and even though I didn't even place I had so much fun being introduced to new problems and concepts I had never encountered before. I was that young when I new that I wanted to go to college for math and learn all that I could. When it comes to computer science I have a much more specific moment of when I began to love it. Through Girl Scouts I was able to participate in a Girls Who Code day camp where we were taught basic binary and simple block coding through scratch. It was so much fun to learn and be surrounded by other females who were interested in a topic that many generally considered "too nerdy" or "too difficult". After just one day I was absolutely hooked. The idea that I could create something that did exactly what I made it do from simple blocks or code on a computer was incredible. I begged my mom for more opportunities to learn about coding so she put me in an after school Girls Who Code class. Being able to learn more grew my love for coding and from there I took every programming class offered at my middle and high school. I even took a duel enrollment class at the Salt Lake Community College that I attended every day and received an internship during.