Like most people, I am fascinated by the science fiction worlds that the creative minds of authors create. Whether the sandy, harsh, world of Dune or the expansive and unknown world of Star Trek, I have been fascinated by the intersection of technology and fiction. This fascination has led me to understand how fast our world is changing. For reference, the authors of Star Trek could have never predicted that the world they created, which is supposedly a thousand years more technologically advanced, would have their computers seem outdated to ours today. I remember laughing about how parents would stereotypically say, “Back in my day…” but now I realize there is a significant truth to that statement. Countless inventions have revolutionized how we interact with the world, often for the betterment of our society. For example, the internet, cellular devices, computer technology, industrial machinery, automobiles, sanitation projects, and modern medicine, have all changed the world overnight compared to the rest of human history, sometimes in less than a generation. Moreover, as more people are given educational opportunities, there has been a more significant need to mobilize many brilliant minds today. It is for these reasons that college means so much to me. It is how I can pursue my dream to be an aerospace engineer and help others innovate. My experience as a volunteer teacher’s aide has made me believe everyone has potential. I spend two to three hours every day in class and many more outside of school hours helping students who are not as sheepish to ask for assistance. Some of my responsibilities include answering questions, proctoring tests, administering, cleaning, and organizing the classroom. I specifically aid in math and for a class one year underneath me. Although I first volunteered as a teacher’s aide for volunteer hours, I stayed because it has been one of the most fulfilling experiences. I have been fortunate enough to connect personally with those I helped and realize the potential for everyone to actualize themselves. I concluded this because I was shocked at how fast someone learns when engaged and the joy it brings when they finally understand, indeed teaching has become a passion for me. Through these experiences, I reflected on how I became engaged in learning. For me, it was understanding how people innovate, learn, and push the boundaries of what is possible. Furthermore, I believe that most people can relate to the impossibility of space and space travel, and it has become my mission to make it into our next reality so that other people can understand that humanity is stronger than any boundary. Overall, I want to innovate, but more importantly, I want others to do the same. My experience as a teacher’s aide has been rewarding in the connections I formed and in understanding the innate potential in everyone to learn. I have combined this with my observations of our changing world and believe that aerospace is a field on the precipice of innovation. Furthermore, I hope that by helping realize the dreams in science fiction novels of the space age, others will be inspired to realize theirs. College is an opportunity for me, to show the world that fiction is much closer to reality than ever before.

I give back to the community by being a teacher’s aide at my school. Every day, I spend at least two, and often many more, hours helping others with math. Although most people would think the hardest part of being a teacher’s aide would be the teaching, I found it the most enjoyable. Indeed, I am still frequently surprised by how the students I help can learn, no matter their academic background. There is the spark that seems to exist in everyone, an ability that, once activated, allows people to innovate, to break expectations, and turn the definition of difficult on its head. Moreover, this spark is contagious; once someone is genuinely interested and “gets it,” they often pass it on to others. It is for this reason that I want to be an aerospace engineer, so that I can inspire others to innovate. Helping others is the greatest joy there is. Although I have been motivated by this before, it was not until I became a teacher’s aide that I understood this. I find it hard to believe I would put nearly as much effort into being a teacher’s aide as I do now if I did not find intrinsic joy in helping others. This motivates me to go above and beyond what is expected of me as a teacher’s aide. For example, I always clean and organize all the rooms, not only those I am assigned to, and I love to help others with math outside the classroom. I met some of the most important people in my life by being a teacher’s aide, and they still positively impact me today. The hardest challenge that I notice in the students while being a teacher’s aide is motivation. It is sometimes surprising that the same student that I diligently helped, who surpassed all my expectations from how fast he or she learned, believes they are hopeless. When people hit obstacles in their learning, they often believe they are not good enough, oblivious to the potential they have. I feel that this sentiment is not only shared by my students but by the population as a whole. However, humanity has progressed so quickly that it can sometimes be hard to believe. In just the last hundred years of human history, out of thousands, we have created the internet, widespread cellular technology, the television, radio, automobiles, modern medicine, and countless other breakthroughs that have changed our world essentially overnight. Although most people attribute this innovation to a select few “gifted” individuals, what I found through my experiences is that anyone can innovate. The only barrier is unlocking that spark to become interested and motivated to learn. By being an aerospace engineer, I hope that I can inspire others to innovate. For me, there has been one barrier that science has yet to overcome, an untapped field that we can all relate to: space. I want to pursue higher education so that I can break down the barrier between today and the space age and hopefully have people realize the vast possibilities that technology brings. I do so because of my experience giving back to my community as a teacher’s aide. I take great joy in helping others, and I believe that everyone has potential.

I give back to my community as a volunteer tutor and teacher’s aide at my school. Since my junior year, I have been with a class of sophomores, now juniors, where I primarily assist in math, particularly Geometry, Algebra II, and Trigonometry. In the classroom, I spend two to three daily hours helping others as an assigned teacher’s aide, and outside my designated hours, I can spend many more assisting those not sheepish to ask for more help. Although it has been demanding, giving back to my community has positively shaped my identity. Specifically how I define my responsibilities, values, and beliefs. A core value I gained by being a teacher’s aide is that: Helping others is the greatest source of joy. Although this idea has driven me before, I didn't understand this until I spent more time as a tutor. Now, I apply this core value as a principle that guides and justifies my actions, most noticeably, in what it means to help. For example, when I clean and organize the rooms around my campus, help others with their work, or do anything out of care, I do it because it brings me joy. If I were to do these things expecting a reward, or it did not genuinely make me happy, I would not be able to consistently and effectively put in the effort needed to do it correctly. My sense of responsibility has changed since being a teacher’s aide. Being accountable for the success and learning of others who reach out has motivated me positively for my academic success. This is most evident in how teaching and helping others with material reinforces my own. But more importantly, it has taught me how to organize my time effectively and properly practice availability. Learning this has been invaluable as I apply these skills to other parts of my life. For example, these same skills are important in maintaining positive relationships, and is why I have befriended many of those I help. Indeed, being a teacher’s aide has given me many relationships that will continue to impact me positively, even after I graduate. A core belief I have because of being a teacher’s aide is that everyone has potential. This belief has inspired me to be an aerospace engineer. Innovation is created by determined individuals working together, who turn fiction into reality. This same relationship is what I see in the individuals I help, determined students working together to solve and understand material. Moreover, this determination is contagious. Whenever I see anyone, but especially those I help, achieve, it motivates me to do the same. I hope to be an aerospace engineer and accomplish something everyone can universally understand, which will convince others of their potential. I want people to know that we can conquer the impossibility of space, and if that is possible, then you can accomplish whatever that may be. Among other factors, being an aerospace engineer is why I pursue higher education. Overall, giving back to my community has been essential to shaping my life. This can be seen in how I view responsibilities, belief in people’s ability to achieve, connection to aerospace, and guiding principles in life. I will continue to be passionate about serving my community and finding joy in helping others. Although I impact my community I often do not define an objective. This is because I believe that if all my effort were to only help one person, it would be worth it.

I am a dual enrollment student, taking college and high school classes. I have been able to be a volunteer teacher’s aide, get ahead in my education, and form many important relationships that have positively influenced me. These experiences and humanity’s innate capacity inspired me to persevere to become an aerospace engineer. However, in following that dream I take on more responsibilities that constantly challenge me to learn and adapt. Specifically, being a caretaker for my autistic brother, Lue, continues to demand more time and energy as my parents age, and will pose a significant barrier to my academic career. When I was growing up, I loved to hear the science fiction worlds conjured in the overactive minds of authors. Worlds thousands of years in the future, with technologies considered impossible to conceive. Despite all these wonderful and otherworldly technologies, computers were often out of place, and frequently outdated compared to the computers today. Indeed, the authors of these worlds could have ever imagined the technological revolution that would spread cellular devices across the globe or the internet’s international connectivity. The world we live in today is changing faster than ever, and I do not doubt that the next technological revolution will occur in space, an untapped potential that looms over all of us. This thought drives me to push forward and gives me hope that the space age will not be a term used in fiction books but will soon be carved into our history books. I persevere because I know that no boundary is unbreakable and with enough collective determination, fiction becomes our next reality. Although these broad topics inspire me, my experiences as a teacher’s aide have cemented my passion for being an aerospace engineer. As a teacher’s aide, I experienced firsthand humanity’s capacity and an individual’s potential. I am inspired when people push through circumstances and work to learn and accomplish, and I am always surprised when someone I am helping understands the material much faster than I first expected. This spark that I see within people is what I believe powers innovation, to turn fiction into reality, and it is contagious. Contrary to common belief, after being a teacher’s aide I am not tired, but rather seeing people working hard motivates me to do so too. Therefore, I hope that by being an aerospace engineer I can motivate others to if not follow in my footsteps, but of other inspired individuals, even if it would just be one person. Having to be a caretaker while pursuing my passion will be a significant challenge for me. My brother requires constant attention and care because of his disabilities, making it very hard for him to communicate, use the restroom, or control his emotions. There have been times when he had tried to leave the house or throw tantrums that would require all of us to withstrain him. It requires significant time, money, and care to ensure that he is safe and cared for, and will create times when I have to choose between work and caretaking. While finance is not the only resource needed to be a caretaker, it will be an important aid as I pursue higher education. It is for this reason, that this scholarship will go to good use in my need to persue my passion while still being able to take care of my brother.

How mental illness has affected my family the most by my severely autistic older brother, Lue. Having to live with someone who cannot communicate, appropriately express emotion, or even use the restroom has been difficult. My family and I had to undergo many expenditures and hours to ensure his safety and that of those around him. However, the responsibility of being a caretaker has positively influenced my character and continues to do so. This scholarship would allow me to pursue my education while still being a caretaker for my brother. I have been a caretaker for my brother, Lue, all my life, and the responsibilities that title has carried have grown more. Fortunately, my parents had dealt with most of my brother’s antics when I was younger and I learned from these experiences what to expect. For example, Lue has tried to leave the house, sometimes even trying to escape on a bike. We also have had to change his diapers, get him ready every morning, calm him down during his tantrums, and make sure he takes his medication. Now that I have gotten older I have noticed that more of these responsibilities have been given to me, and this has significantly impacted how I manage my time. Moreover, as I become more independent I know that the responsibilities that I will have to face as an adult will have to be balanced with that of being a caretaker. People believe that the responsibility of being a caretaker would be at odds with others, however, the effect that my brother had on my life has been more complex. Although the time I have lost can be frustrating, the challenges of being a character have given me patience, attentiveness, and empathy. These skills are why I value being a caretaker, it has made me successful. For example, the patience I learned from cleaning up after Lue’s tantrums is the same patience I apply as a student. Some questions can take hours to complete in harder STEM classes, such as Physics 4A or Calculus III. Physically sitting still for hours on a single problem requires immense patience, which I could not have developed without my brother Lue. The future that I have with Lue is uncertain. Although the skills of being a caretaker are useful, they still eat out of the time I need to spend on my education and career. Even now, when the majority of the responsibility to take care of my brother is on my parents, I have had many encounters where I had to choose between being a babysitter or a student. As I move forward into my career and education, choices like those will be more frequent, and finance will be a pressing issue in deciding between chasing my dreams in career or having to take care of my brother. This is why this scholarship will give me a better opportunity to follow my ambitions of becoming an aerospace engineer. The impact I want to make on the field is to launch humanity into the space age and turn fiction into reality, following the pattern of the recent exponential growth in technology these past few decades.

People who understand their potential are the most persistent in their beliefs and ability to shape the world around them positively. Everyone has potential, however, it can be hard to realize or understand how to use it. Hence, the positive impact I plan to make on the world is to empower others to use their potential. This mission motivates me to be an educator for my peers and fulfill my ambitions as an aerospace engineer. Understanding your potential is core to expressing your beliefs and ability to impact others positively. Generally, most people will improve themselves if they can, however, the problem is understanding they have that capacity. The people who can still find the capacity for growth, even when it might seem impossible, are those who positively shape the world. This relationship is known as innovation. Therefore, the positive relationship between potential and positive impact on the world is seen through innovation's effect on science in the last few decades. Our world has been evolving rapidly thanks to the many individuals who realized their potential and found solutions thought impossible. My experience as an educator is how I help others see their potential When I first became a tutor, I believed that the hardest part of the job would be teaching, however, it was the most enjoyable. I am always delightfully surprised by how fast everyone I help manages to pick up new material, but what is more surprising is how that is often not seen. So many people believe they are incapable of learning, so much so, that the main distinction that I see between students are those who are interested in their academics and those who are not. The people interested in their learning find ways to use their potential and understand their ability to learn, while those who do not have to struggle harder or give up on their education. As an educator, that has been the hardest challenge I have faced, not teaching, convincing others they can learn. My job as an educator has been to have the students use their potential. My dream to be an aerospace engineer is closely linked to my belief in innovation and potential. There are currently more people than there have ever been and more opportunities for them to impact science and technology significantly. More and more fiction has become reality recently, however, there are still many who are pessimistic about humanity’s future. Although I agree that there are many areas we need to improve, I believe that humanity is unbounded, and I wish to show this by launching us into the space age. A grandness is attached to space that has made it feel untouchable and is the catalyst for many science fiction stories of a space-dwelling society. I want to dispel the idea that space-dwelling societies are a realm of fiction because we are on the precipice of reaching that milestone. I want humanity to prove humanity has that potential. The positive impact I want to make on the world is transformative rather than expansive. Collectively or individually, we have the potential for greatness; we just have to open our eyes to it. I am dedicated to pursuing this mission as I progress further through higher education and find employment in aerospace innovation.

What I want to do in my life is to convince others of their potential. This purpose stems from how I viewed others. Throughout my life, I have seen people fail to meet the expectations set by others or themselves and conclude that they are unworthy of success, and people continue to shape themselves more by what they are not, rather than what they are. It tires me to see people so casually downplay their accomplishments and not recognize the apparent amount of potential they have. My dream to be an aerospace engineer reflects this, and I want to show that humanity can turn fiction into reality. Everyone has potential because of my experience as a tutor throughout most of my high school career. When I was first a tutor I anticipated that the hardest part of the job would be teaching the material. However, teaching was the most enjoyable part, and I am always delightfully surprised whenever a struggling student understands much faster than I first imagined. I quickly realized what separated students was morale rather than a predetermined attribute like intellect. If students were genuinely interested in their learning and success, they would face less resistance than those who were not. Although I could not directly find their curiosity in learning for them, I could convince them that their work did not define them. What I mean by this is that when someone fails a test or assignment, I show them that they are still smart and capable of success. This approach of focusing on learning and moving forward is how innovation occurs, and it is important to understand because no matter how disastrous someone failed, I always saw the talent they had to bounce back and learn, everyone has that potential. Being an aerospace engineer has been a dream of mine. I have always been curious about the science fiction worlds in TV shows or novels set in the far-off future. The technology in these worlds has always been so advanced because it blurred the line between science and magic. Although the authors who delicately crafted these fantasies believed that it would take centuries for science to turn fiction into reality, they miscalculated how fast technological growth was. For example, In Star-Trek, a world where technology is supposed to be at its height, the computers they possess seem uninspiring or outdated compared to ours today. The show’s authors could have never guessed the amount of bright minds that came together to innovate computer technology. Science is expanding so fast that it can sometimes out-compete the “science-fiction” stories made today. This has inspired me to be an aerospace engineer because I want to remove the “science-fiction” label imposed on space development. The amount of brilliant individuals in our world has only grown and our world is already transforming rapidly, it is about time that humanity realized the potential it has in space. What I want to do with my life is to let people understand the potential they have. On an individual level, I have accomplished this through being an educator, and on a career level I aim to accomplish this as an aerospace engineer. I believe that fiction exists for it to become the next reality, and similarly, how education exists to allow people to learn and innovate. The positive effect of using this potential is change, and I believe that the world is on the precipice of drastically changing for the better.

I have always been fascinated by science fiction books and shows that depict a society in the space age, a world deeply entrenched in futuristic technologies and tropes. Although the setting of these grand stories is placed many generations from now, their world is not too far from ours. The impossible technology wielded so prestigiously by the characters in those stories is not too far off the inventions we have today. No one could have imagined that computers, handheld or not, would become widespread so quickly, that even the authors of those science fiction novels failed to account for the quality and quantity of computers we would have. However, what is more outlandish is how quickly we became complacent to such technology, not only computers, but just basic sanitation or electricity; The logistics of such truly boggles the mind. In the grand scheme of human history, our world is clearly exponentially evolving. The culprit of this exponential growth is ourselves. Never before have there been so many people who can significantly impact science. Technology has dramatically impacted nearly every aspect of our lives and will continue to do more greatly as time passes. This has inspired me to participate in STEM because I want to be one of those individuals who expand the edges of reality. I am confident I can make those science fiction novels a reality, and then make them outdated, foreign, limited perspectives, demonstrating how far we have come. More specifically, I want to shatter the boundary of space as an aerospace engineer and show that even the harsh conditions of space cannot hold the brilliance on Earth. Space has been said to be untouchable for too long, I plan to mend this fallacy. Despite my ambition to turn fiction into reality, I still have a long educational journey to complete before becoming an aerospace engineer. I have already encountered many challenges in pursuing higher education, and I know more will come. I plan to enroll in a UC for my aerospace major and apply to NASA. I understand the likelihood of getting straight into NASA is low, so I anticipate pursuing a teaching credential and teaching calculus. While pursuing my education I plan to be, and am, a tutor for other students, to reinforce my understanding of the material. This scholarship will allow me to succeed academically, especially as most of my educational goals require me to pay for higher education. Moreover, as my parents get older I need to pay for the cost of being a caretaker for my siblings, specifically my extremely autistic brother, Lue. This cost is not only in terms of money, but that of time as well. Lue has been known to go into tantrums and break things around the house or try to leave. It is vitally important that my role as a student is put on the back burner so that I can ensure all of Lue’s needs are handled. This can be a handicap that I will have to endure in both trying to sustain an income for college and focusing on my studies. In conclusion, technology is exponentially evolving and significantly changing our world, turning fiction into reality. I want to break down the boundary of space and show the untapped potential that lies above us. Before pursuing these ambitions, I need to achieve higher education goals and enrich my responsibilities as a student and tutor. This scholarship will allow me to achieve my educational goals and aid my role as a caretaker.

Imagine traveling 100 years in the past and trying to explain to someone about all the amazing inventions that will be made in the next 10 decades. It is doubtful that they would believe the creation of wireless technology, widespread cellular devices, orbiting satellites, and the internet. Now repeat that cycle of jumping back in increments of 100 years and you will soon realize that it won’t take many increments to reach a point where it is near impossible to explain any technology we use every day in our modern world. My point in this thought experiment is that technology is undergoing exponential growth, and from this pattern, it's clear that today we would struggle to understand the great inventions that will change the world 100 years from now. This is core to my belief that science and leadership fuel this exponential growth as more brilliant minds are allowed to contribute technology than ever before. Indeed, I believe that technology, fueled by science and leadership, is insurmountable in changing our future for the better. While being an educator for my peers and underclassmen, I have experienced the struggle that comes with getting someone to participate, because it is all too easy to do nothing and learn nothing. I overcame this by being a leader who can encourage others to participate in learning and create collaboration between peers. I relate this to my experience of helping people with Calculus II. I showed the qualities necessary to help my peers succeed in the class. I would work in individual study sessions with all my peers to guarantee they learned all the material properly. I also organized collaborative study groups to ensure everyone was held accountable to work and to help each other with specific problems. The leadership skills I showed were essential to comprehending the material rather than just completing it, and in promoting collaboration in other classes. This collaboration and learning is how leadership pushes technology further to change our future, as people can work together to build off each other effectively and efficiently. Most people would agree that without science, or the study of the natural world, there would be no technology. Even though most scientific research can feel impractical because there is no evident application, the insights provided still manage to be responsible for creating new technologies. This relationship empowers me to learn, because I know the material, despite its lack of current utilization, will eventually show its use in the unforeseen future. Specifically, I view learning as a tool to fulfill my ambitions as an aerospace engineer. I derive my interest in my academic career from this and take meaning in my learning. Even though the responsibilities of a dual enrollment student in Calculus or physics are difficult, it has always been enjoyable for me. The long lectures and difficult homework assignments did take hours to complete but at the same time, I was always hungry to learn. Even the difficult exams have always been another area where I can prove how much I have learned to my professor. I am working to become an aerospace engineer because I want to make an impact in launching humanity into the Space Age. Technologies' exponential expansion is bound to lead us into the untapped potential of space, and as an aerospace engineer, I want to show the world it is closer than ever. I believe that if the world can see fiction turn into reality, then the other divisions that separate us as people may seem that much smaller. That is the future science has offered me.

I remember studying for my final exam for my Calculus III class, at school, I would do example problems on the whiteboards, and at home, I would review lecture notes. I repeated this cycle for an entire week straight, almost every whiteboard at my school was covered with math, to much the horror of the lower classmen, and I nearly used a whole notebook with lecture notes just for a single exam. I was confident I would ace this test, I could have taught every problem on the whiteboards to a geometry class with my eyes closed. I was ready, and so the day came I took the exam and I did every problem thinking that it was a little too easy. Then a day later, I looked at my grade for the final expecting a 100% with 3 golden stars and a cherry on top, however, I saw a measly 76%. After a few seconds of processing, my jaw clearly on the floor, I ecstatically bounced up and down knowing I had room for improvement. The people I have shared this story with believe that the hardest challenge in STEM classes was the unfair grading or difficult exams and that I had overcome them by studying harder, but they are incorrect. Although it is often demoralizing when you put so much effort only to meet failure, the real challenge is what happens after you hit a roadblock. Too often people let failure define them, and a single letter, percentage, or red crossing determines whether you are smart enough. When you think about it, it does not make much sense, how does some magical quality of “smartness” conclude if you are “worthy” of chasing your dreams? There were too many expectations that I had to get an A or else I would never get into college, or that if I did not pass this exam it meant that I could not learn how to build rocket ships. To some extent, it is true, that a college would not accept someone if they failed all their classes, but the misconception occurs that there is no capacity for success and growth, where there is always capacity for growth. Even if I did fail that Calculus III class or that final exam, I would have learned from my mistakes, and tried again. The guidance that I offer to people pursuing STEM, or anyone who wants to get good at anything is: that you are bound to fail at what you are good at. Failure is the route to success, you learn and grow from it. To be good at something you must fail to grow, and grow to succeed. I am tired of people believing that learning is restricted by being smart when it is from perseverance and effort. When you endeavor to learn from failure no grade can determine your success. Major life decisions are hard, and I believe people misunderstand them. For one, there is no correct answer to decisions like these because life is not black and white but many shades of gray. People are also afraid to choose because, as the name implies, it will majorly affect their lives' trajectory. The feeling of the unknown and the unreliable nature of predicting the future make deciding scary What I do know though is that decisions like these cannot be shelved. I believe in the saying that “the bill always comes due”, and trying to run away from a decision will only make it all that difficult to choose. My guidance is that you should always choose what you take meaning in. Evaluate what your hobbies and interests are and make the decision on whether that lines up with your choice. Where you put meaning is where you will find happiness and become more dedicated to continuing that choice. Therefore, it is important to not make a decision based on the expectation of doing so. In an anecdote where one of my close friends were to ask me what college they should attend, I would find somewhere comfortable, and ask questions in kind. I would help them explore where they put the most meaning in, by asking about their values, hobbies, and interests. Then the choice of college would become much more obvious, even if that would be a different college than mine or what their parents expected. Understanding and empathizing with someone is how I can guide them to a choice they find the most meaningful. Although the opportunity to guide someone with a major life decision has never shown itself to me, this approach is what I currently use to help people and is how I received help in deciding what career I want to pursue. My dedication to pursuing STEM and helping others comes from my belief that we have immense potential. The exponential growth of technology and my experience working with many bright minds in my generation made me realize that society is on the verge of a new age of space technologies and exploration. I want to be an aerospace engineer and push for the goal of launching humanity into space to have people realize that as individuals and as a society we are capable of so much. I believe that if people put meaning into their choices, and use their learning capabilities in whatever field they choose, we can accomplish any goal.

From being an educator, I strongly believe that all the people I have worked with are intelligent and have the potential to change the world given enough hard work and dedication. It is this observation that fueled my passion to be an aerospace engineer and to continue my role as an educator as I progress through my academic career. I wish to help people realize the potential they have academically and engage themselves in overcoming the challenges that a college education may pose. Similarly, I want to be an aerospace engineer because I want humanity to realize its potential that we are on the precipice of expanding into a new era of technology. I am passionate about education and aerospace engineering because I believe my purpose is to bring out the best in people and for them to realize their intellectual potential. My role as an educator began when I became a dual-enrollment student at my high school, where I had to take high school classes and college courses at the same time. Although this challenge made me face immense difficulty at times, I valued the opportunity to get ahead in my education and comprehend new material. It was because of this I became a peer helper to aid other students in overcoming the challenges that I had to face, especially from the harder STEM courses such as Calculus and Physics. As I taught more of my peers and began my work as a teacher's aide (TA), I began to realize the potential of the people I helped and began to take meaning from being an educator. It was this change that had me go the extra mile relearning old material, and spending countless hours helping my friends. Although people have apologized for asking me for help, I would not spend my time anywhere else because I believe that I helped them realize their intellectual potential, and engage them academically. Furthermore, even if I only made a difference in a single person, it would still be well worth it. My dream to be an aerospace engineer is a natural extension of my value to help people realize their potential. The undeniable exponential growth of technology and my belief that my generation is filled with bright individuals has led me to conclude that my generation will lay the foundation for the Space Age. Although the idea of a space-dwelling society seems straight out of science fiction books, much can be said the same for the recent world-turning inventions in the last few decades. Imagine trying to convince someone in the past that cellular devices would spread to nearly every individual in developed countries, or that we would use orbital satellites to converse with people across the globe. As an aerospace engineer, I want my role to be showing humanity that we are better than what defines us here on Earth, I want to scream that the future is here and now. Everyone already has what it takes to be their best and they just have to realize it. My purpose and my passion, either in education or aerospace, is to make people understand, that they are intelligent, that they can make a difference, and that difference will make fiction into reality. I am hopeful that I win this scholarship so that I can share this message and be one of the many individuals to make a difference.

I make a positive impact on the world as a peer helper. More often than not when I tell people that, they assume that is the end of the story, after all, it is self-explanatory. However, what is often misunderstood is the meaning I put behind being a peer helper and the meaning I find in education and learning. For me, being a peer helper is about beating the mentality of getting work done just for the sake of doing it, such a way of thinking has been one of the greatest enemies in education with my experience of being a peer helper. I have seen many students filter information in and out, and although they might pass the class, eventually they hit a brick wall as they progress through higher classes, especially in the STEM field. I try my best to get students to genuinely take an interest in the material they do and learn from the assignments rather than just getting them done. I value students being able to fully learn material and processes even if it comes at the cost of a lower grade. Therefore the positive impact I make on the world is indeed, being a peer helper; but for me, that means getting people to take hold of their academic career and show integrity in their work rather than just getting it done. I certainly thank this way of thinking as one of my own greatest successes in my occupational journey. I have been asked why I remain motivated, and what keeps me passionate about work that people generally consider to be grueling or difficult. While I contribute a lot of my success to taking joy in the material, rather than the sake of getting it done, I have a very optimistic look at my role in the future. I aspire to be an aerospace engineer and be one of the bright minds that lead us to the fabled space age. While the space age may seem like a far-off fantasy, it is much closer than many think. Imagine if you were to tell someone only a few decades ago that millions of people would have more computing power than what was needed to put someone on the moon, right in their pockets. Such a fact would seem unbelievable, although now it is commonplace today. This is much the same way that I believe aerospace is about to go under, with such a rapid growth of technology, the bright minds of my generation will soon create a world where we can say much the same about smartphones; people will be in disbelief that only a few decades ago there were only a few manned space missions. This passion I have for aerospace is a natural extension of my love for learning and is how I plan to really change the world today. I want to open up the world to where the space age is something that is here and now, rather than something that only lives in science fiction books. If I had to explain my love for learning, teaching, and aerospace, it would be that I have a tendency to put meaning into things. While I can not always answer why something matters, I do know what the effects are; I am driven, hardworking, and above all caring. I will continue my passions and work to create a better future.

In the last few decades, humanity has seen unprecedented growth in technology. It is sometimes hard to believe that in just a few decades we have split the atom, or created the internet. However, what I find most perplexing about the course of human history is aerospace. Thanks to many bright minds, we have inched closer to the fabled “space age”. For me, this shows that the space-dwelling societies I have seen on television or read in science-fiction books are no longer just a distant fantasy that only exists in the imagination of authors and their readers. Rather, the space age is a tangible goal, and from the rate of technological growth, it's most likely something that will come into existence by the end of my generation. This has created a feeling of grandiosity for aerospace engineering and has fueled my passion to be one of the many bright minds to contribute to human society finally realizing the untapped potential of the massive universe it lives in. Therefore it is only natural that I have a strong desire to have an impact on aerospace, for the betterment of human society as a whole for the next few decades. Indeed, I want to create a world where people can find it hard to believe that only a few manned space missions ever occurred, much like how people today find it hard to believe that the many technological advancements we have made in the last decade even exist. A personal goal instrumental in my objective to contribute to aerospace is keeping my integrity. I believe that Integrity is the most important factor when completing any type of work effectively. This is because you are the only person who knows if you have done the work, or simply got it over with. What I mean by this is that if you work just to get it done, you are not getting anything out of it. You should always find meaning in what you do, and use that information to learn and improve constantly. Altogether, my goal to maintain the integrity of my work has reinforced my love for learning and has blown away all my previous academic goals. Now, I look forward to proving myself during exams rather than dreading them and take joy in learning from long lectures and homework assignments. Furthermore, this has fueled my passion for aerospace more, as I increasingly start to recognize more and more of the complex mechanisms required to launch an object into orbit or further. As this year concludes, as of writing this, I am more confident than ever that we are closer to the space age than ever, based on the worldwide collaboration against the coronavirus pandemic and the impressive aerospace efforts seen by SpaceX this year. I am hopeful in saying that my passion for aerospace will only continue to grow, as I learn and explore more through my Academic career.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to develop a strong interest in learning, I have always processed and sought out new information. It is because of this I learned of the exponential growth that human society has undergone in the last few decades, from splitting the atom to the vast interconnected system of the internet. Our world is constantly changing, often for the better. However, what captivated my mind was aerospace. We have observed and expanded, if only a little, the massive, awaiting, untapped potential of the universe. Therefore it was only natural that my curiosity for aerospace combined with my belief in the exponential growth of technology, concluding that as a species, we are on the verge of reaching the "space age". This sense of grandiose that I had for the field of aeronautics, and my love of learning has motivated me to prove my hypothesis correct, that I, along with the millions of bright minds in my generation, will make the impossible idea of space expansion into the next reality. I want to achieve a world where people can grow up and say, "Imagine that only a few decades ago, only a handful of humans went to space", much like how I can say that only a few decades ago people knew a world without the television or the internet. I am a dual-enrolled student and have been managing high-school responsibilities while passing all my college classes. Sentence about difficulty. However, this difficulty has never bothered me. What I find as an academic challenge is fighting the mentality of doing the work just for the sake of doing it rather than a hard test or grueling work. All work, not just academic, has a purpose, and if you don’t take meaning out of it, then as I see it, you are wasting your time. If I were to surrender to the mentality of doing it for the sake of doing it, I would spend hours on my assignments for that information to fall out of my head the next day. Therefore I contribute most of my success academically to doing my work for the pure value of learning the material. Even through the most challenging semester I had, my senior year of high school, taking Calculus III and Physics with college students nearly independently; I took joy in the long assignments and lectures and looked forward to proving myself in the exams. In the end, any obstacle I have faced academically has only proved to reinforce my love for learning and motivation to take joy where others may call it quits. Although I am the youngest brother I have always felt like the oldest because out of my two other siblings, my eldest brother is at college on the weekends, and my older brother has extreme autism. This means I have to serve as a caretaker for my older brother, and this has become more of a worry as I try to manage my increasingly time-consuming academic life while also searching for a college that is suitable for me to have to come home to take care of my brother during holidays, weekends or even on weekdays. Moreover, my dream to contribute to aerospace engineering, likely through NASA, will come at odds with my role as a caretaker. Eventually, I know I will have to bear the largest burden of caretaking for my older brother and this comes as the largest financial obstacle I face today. It is for this reason that I hope to win this scholarship and secure my future in aeronautics.