“Use kindness to believe, grow, trust and create “ Through an organization called Learn2Be, I tutored a student in the foster system who was behind in school, especially in Algebra. This student also had a problem with motivation and focusing for a long time. However, after my first session, I remembered the teacher who helped me through my struggle in English. In 5th grade, I moved to America from India in the middle of the school year and had a difficult time adjusting to a new culture. My teacher recognized my struggle and started to help me. She would recommend specific books that expanded my vocabulary, stayed after school to strengthen my concepts, and most importantly, constantly created a positive and encouraging work environment for me to learn. I started to develop a positive relationship with English for the first time. Moreover, when I got the opportunity to teach myself, I saw a student who could overcome their problems with the right knowledge and motivation to work hard. So I created an encouraging environment for the student and motivated her to complete the work by creating mini incentives like a small game or letting her take brain breaks with fun riddles. Through teaching this student, I gained a new appreciation for the teacher who helped me because if not for the teacher motivating me, I would not have been able to motivate my student. Through this experience, I started to question the limits of my potential to give back to my community. Furthermore, After witnessing the struggles students in low-income communities faced during the pandemic, I launched Project Kind Packs with a friend to provide packages for students in Title 1 schools. Although it was difficult to raise funds while following strict protocols, through persistence, we were, fortunately, able to partner with organizations and news outlets like NBC DFW and raised $3601. In the end, we donated 300 kind packages to Dallas ISD Title 1 schools filled with school supplies to help students reach their full potential. When we handed out the packages to teachers and students, the happiness in their eyes was a true indication that I had made a difference. To continue, I believe that behind the success of every human are the people who helped them along their journey and molded their personality. Furthermore, helping those in need isn’t about making someone feel better just for a moment but it is laying a stepping stone that will change their path in life and mold them into better humans. Moreover, through these life lessons, I hope to one day become a biomedical engineer and open a non-profit organization supporting healthcare in impoverished countries and students in those communities who want to study in college by taking the financial burden of education off their shoulders because I have learned the most valuable gift in someone’s life is providing the concrete for their stepping stones to success which will help them help others.

“Whoosh” The marshmallow straight up into the air and fell short of the target by 20cm. The catapult test may have failed once again but, most importantly it improved from the last test. Failure in experiments was always inspiring and enlightening because they always offered an opportunity to improve the design. In addition to personal growth, engineers are constantly trying to improve the quality of life for society. This cornucopia of growth opportunities is what inspired me to pursue engineering. Furthermore, my passion for studying engineering strengthened during my junior year when I selected an advanced class to research and interview professionals in my field of interest. One of the professionals I interviewed, a noted professor at UNT, allowed me to shadow their work and learn how they make polymers for the brain. Through my research, I discovered the extent to which biomedical engineering was a combination of a variety of scientific concepts. For example, while I was studying how to make polymers in the lab, I had to utilize chemistry to calculate the quantities of the materials using stoichiometry, the purpose, and compatibility of the polymer using biology and even delved into physics when trying to understand the power necessary to polymerase the material. This experience proved how biomedical engineering is the center zone for combining scientific concepts for the greater good. Through this program, I was also able to research nerve conduits, a potential regenerative medical procedure to repair nerves that have been damaged. Within my research, I discovered that the materials required for making nerve conduits can be easily acquired but using the materials to create conduits requires expensive technology. Moreover, the process of surgically implanting nerve conduits also requires extreme precision which can only be acquired by expert professionals. After more research on this topic, I discovered the root cause behind most of the difficulties that come with implementing healthcare technologies, financial status. Currently, the biggest threat to human health is the economic disparities between people. In general, those who require the most medical attention are often the same people with the least amount of money. This disparity can be truly seen in rural countries where the nearest hospital is hours away. However, this problem can be eradicated if biomedical engineers conduct more research on affordable techniques and work closely with hospitals and politicians to supply the treatment to the general public. Although the task at hand may seem arduous, by dividing it into small steps and collaborating with people along the way it will be accomplished. Moreover, I believe with strong determination and careful planning nothing is impossible. Furthermore, with the $1000 in this scholarship, I would be able to fund a lot of my semester tuition which would bring me closer to my goal and allow me to spend time on more necessary roles such as an undergraduate research assistant. My main concentration of research will be on traumatic brain injuries as the treatment for TBI injuries is not only expensive but is not a complete cure for all issues within the patient. To continue through the research I will be able to study nerve conduits and work with well-renowned professors at my university to work with biodegradable materials for the nerve conduits. To reach my goals, the educational foundation necessary isn’t affordable by any means. However, despite the numerous challenges present, I know that with persistence and diligence I can gain support from my community to help those in need. It is through such scholarships from kind-hearted individuals and organizations which will aid my path to success.

Eureka! I finally figured out the last step to solving the trigonometric limit. At that moment, I could feel a sense of excitement and satisfaction coursing through my veins. The first time I was exposed to Calculus was in a virtual school environment but due to the pandemic and most of the work being asynchronous, I did not have an opportunity to fully reach my potential in the intriguing subject. I was always fascinated with mathematics because every problem was like a puzzle waiting to be solved. Similar to the 1000-piece puzzles, the journey to the end might seem tedious and require meticulous attention but the end result is truly beautiful. Therefore, despite my limited knowledge in the subject, the next year I was determined to learn more and took an Advanced Calculus 1 class. However this decision came with its caveats. Although I fell in love with numbers, not all concepts came easy to me. One of my greatest challenges was solving trigonometric limits. But the beauty of my love for math was how it pushed me to persevere and learn the concept despite the challenges. I was determined to overcome the challenge and completed multiple practice problems, watched many videos to practice, and attended multiple tutorials to get my doubts cleared. Over time I developed my techniques for remembering the connections between concepts and was excited to challenge myself with difficult problems. The moment I understood the effect of my hard work was when we were in a peer group study session. For the first time, I was able to predict the next steps unconsciously and knew what I had to do next. I truly saw the math unfolding in front of my eyes. The excitement I felt for math in that moment will forever remain priceless. Unfortunately, not many students are lucky enough to be exposed to this ideology before college. Many students are pressured to fit in and work to just achieve a good grade instead of being pushed to challenge themself to truly understand the foundational concepts. During my journey of trying to get better at calculus, life did not stop. I still had to learn to balance taking tests in other difficult classes and maintain my commitment to extracurricular activities. This is one of the main problems with our current education system. The process of learning is represented as linear growth and there is this harmful ideology that “every hour studying is equivalent to a 10-point increase on the test” but that is not realistic by any means. The amount of studying can only be effective if the student is studying in the right methods. Fortunately, my parents have given me the intellectual freedom to avoid running after grades but instead focus on my self-improvement. Despite the months of studying and that one “Eureka” moment, I still had more to learn and other concepts I needed to master. The ideology of working towards a subject just for “credit” is truly flawed at its core as it places borders on the child’s mind for success. The biggest mistake a human can make is defining success as one goal and pressuring themself to move linearly to that one goal with all their being. However, in reality, success is a lifestyle. You should be living successfully, not trying to be successful. For example, when it comes to proving trigonometric identities there are multiple different ways to approach the situation, similarly, there are multiple different paths to success. Dead ends along the journey are not the end but one path not to take to solve the problem.

What is diversity? Diversity is far more than the different colors of skin, it is the difference in thoughts, opinions, and personalities. Our personalities form from a variety of factors like our experiences, culture, parents, and environment. These factors are what make people unique. Unfortunately, I had to fight multiple inner battles before I realized the benefit of being different. However, I did not understand the benefit of diversity until I moved to a new charter school with only 50 students per grade. Since the students for this school were chosen randomly and were from all over the town, we had a diverse group of individuals. There were not any prejudices or stereotypes but a close knit family ready to learn from each other. During these times, I learned how diversity in thought and personalities could affect my growth as a responsible human being. When people embrace their uniqueness and are open-minded towards others, the experience of learning new things goes beyond the classroom. While working with such a diverse group of individuals who were not trying to be similar but actively representing their unique perspectives, I learned to be more confident and proud of my personality. I believe the same philosophy should be applied beyond the classroom into our current workplace. The workplace should be an environment that encourages being different in order for people to truly come together to make a difference in the world. In the future I would love to work closer to the rural communities in my hometown, where healthcare is neither affordable nor accessible. This is because currently the biggest threat to human health is the economic disparities between people. In general, those who require the most medical attention are often the same people with the least amount of money. This disparity can be truly seen in rural countries where the nearest hospital is hours away. However this problem can be eradicated if biomedical engineers conduct more research on affordable techniques and work closely with hospitals and politicians to supply the treatment to the general public. Although the task at hand may seem arduous, by dividing into small steps and collaborating with people along the way it will be accomplished. Moreover I believe with strong determination and careful planning nothing is impossible. Furthermore with the $1000 with this scholarship, I would be able to fund a lot of my semester tuition which would bring me closer to my goal and allow me to spend time on more necessary roles such as an undergraduate research assistant. My main concentration of research will be on traumatic brain injuries as the treatment for TBI injuries is not only expensive but is not a complete cure of all issues within the patient. To continue through the research I will be able to study nerve conduits and work with well-renowned professors at my university to work with biodegradable materials for the nerve conduits. In order to reach my goals, the educational foundation necessary isn’t affordable by any means. However despite the numerous challenges present, I know that with persistence and diligence I can gain support from my community to help those in need. It is through such scholarships from kind hearted individuals and organizations which will aid my path to success.

“Use kindness to believe, grow, trust and create “ was one of the many mottos my mother had instilled into me through her daily night time stories. The first time I understood the effect of kindness was when I tutored a student in the foster system who was behind in school, especially in Algebra. However, after my first session, I remembered the teacher who helped me through my struggle in English. Furthermore, when I was in 5th grade, I moved to America after living in India for 3 years in the middle of the academic year and had a difficult time adjusting to a new environment. My teacher recognized my struggle and started to help me. She would recommend specific books that expanded my vocabulary, stayed after school to strengthen my concepts, and most importantly, constantly created a positive and encouraging work environment for me to learn. I started to develop a positive relationship with English for the first time. Moreover, when I got the opportunity to teach myself, I saw myself in the student. So I created an encouraging environment for the student and motivated her to complete the work by creating mini incentives that gave her control over her journey instead of being dependent on the teacher. Through teaching this student, I gained a new appreciation for the teacher who helped me because if not for the teacher motivating me, I would not have been able to motivate my student. Through this experience, I started to question the limits of my potential to give back to my community. Can I make a difference? Furthermore, after witnessing the struggles students in low-income communities faced during the pandemic, I teamed up with a friend to launch Project Kind Packs, an organization that made supply packages for students in Title 1 schools. Although it was difficult to raise funds while following strict protocols, through persistence, we were, fortunately, able to partner with local organizations and news outlets like Dallas Morning News and NBC DFW to increase support. We raised $3601 and made almost 300 kind packages for Title 1 students in Dallas ISD. These packages contained school supplies, chapter books, and encouraging notes to help students during critical times. When we handed out the packages, the happiness in their eyes was the true indication that I have completed service for my community and achieved my goals. To continue, I believe that behind the success of every scientist, celebrity, politician, and philanthropist are the people who helped them along their journey and molded their personalities. Furthermore, helping those in need is not only about making someone feel better for a moment but it is laying a stepping stone in someone’s journey that will change their path in life and mold them into better human beings. Moreover, through the lessons I have learned in my life, I hope to one day become a biomedical engineer and open a non-profit organization supporting healthcare in impoverished countries and supporting students in those communities who want to study in college by taking the financial burden of education off their shoulders because I have learned the most valuable gift in someone’s life is providing the concrete for their stepping stones to success which will help them help others. To reach my goals, the educational foundation necessary isn’t affordable by any means. However, despite the numerous challenges present, I know that with persistence and diligence I can gain support from my community to help those in need. It is through such scholarships from kind-hearted individuals and organizations which will aid my path to success.

“Look at the glass half full!” I come from a world of optimists. Optimists are often stereotyped as people ignorant of the problems in the world. In reality, optimists use the power of positivity as a device to manifest success. We belong to a world where we accept challenges with every goal. A world where overcoming challenges is not a choice but taken for granted in the journey to success. A world where wanting to make a difference is a personality trait. One part of my life that reflects my optimistic world is my family. Being an immigrant family, we have faced many issues. We were constantly moving around different places and, every time I moved I was presented with a different set of problems. Sometimes it was that I had to learn a new language. Sometimes it was about changing the way I looked. As a naive young child, I was easily overwhelmed and burdened by the stress of moving from one challenge to another. However, when I confided in my parents during those moments I learned a valuable lesson. My parents helped me realize the importance of living through challenges instead of surviving through them. I learned that surviving from one challenge to another is burdensome and stressful. Instead, accepting the prospect of challenges as a step to growth and learning to live through them is an important quality that will make me a better person tomorrow than I am today.

After witnessing the struggles of students during the pandemic, my friend and I launched Project Kind Packs, through which we made care packages for students in Title 1 schools. The first thing we did was create our vision and mission to spread the message out. To help spread our message to the public, we partnered with the Leaders Readers Network. Through the support of our community and various individuals, we raised $3601 and created almost 300 packages for Title 1 students in Dallas ISD. The packages contained school supplies and encouraging notes to help students reach their potential during critical times. Initially, we tried to reach out to many media outlets to feature our story and were once reached out to by NBC 5 for a potential interview. We were excited to have the opportunity with a well-known media source but, unfortunately, when we replied, we did not receive any information and started to lose hope. However, 2-3 weeks after the first email, we were notified by my friend's neighbor that our project was featured on NBC 5. We could not believe our luck, and soon after the feature, various media outlets started to spread information about our organization and our mission. Although we struggled at first, we were able to gain support from our community to help those in need. When we handed out the packages to teachers and students, the happiness in their eyes was the true indication that I have completed service to my community.

“Whoosh” The marshmallow straight up into the air and fell short of the target by 20cm. The catapult test may have failed once again but, what mattered the most was that it improved from the last test. These experiments are always inspiring and enlightening because they always offer an opportunity to improve the design. Every time your experiment fails, you come closer to success. In addition to personal growth, engineers are constantly trying to improve the quality of life for society. This cornucopia of growth opportunities is what inspired me to pursue engineering. Furthermore, my passion for studying engineering strengthened during my junior year when I was selected for an Independent Study and Mentorship program, a class for students to research and interview professionals in their field of interest. One of the professionals I interviewed, a noted professor at UNT, allowed me to shadow their work and learn how they make polymers for the brain. Through my research, I discovered the extent to which biomedical engineering was a combination of a variety of scientific concepts. For example, while I was studying how to make polymers in the lab, I had to utilize chemistry to calculate the quantities of the materials using stoichiometry, the purpose, and compatibility of the polymer using biology and even delved into physics when trying to understand the power necessary to polymerase the material. Through this program I was also able to research nerve conduits, a potential regenerative medical procedure to repair nerves that have been damaged. Within my research I discovered that the materials required for making nerve conduits can be easily acquired but using the materials to create conduits requires expensive technology. Moreover the process of surgically implanting nerve conduits also requires extreme precision which can only be acquired by expert professionals. After more research on this topic, I discovered the root cause behind most of the difficulties that come with implementing neuro-healthcare technologies: financial status. In general, those who require the most medical attention are often the same people with the least amount of money. This disparity can be truly seen in rural countries where the nearest hospital is hours away. However this problem can be eradicated if biomedical engineers conduct more research on affordable techniques and work closely with hospitals and politicians to supply the treatment to the general public. Although the task at hand may seem arduous, by dividing into small steps and collaborating with people along the way it will be accomplished. With help of kind-hearted and passionate organizations like Interface I will be able to reach my goal of using research into biodegradable materials and nanotechnology that can be used to track the recovery process of people, specifically for people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI). This is an important sector to work on because one of the most common patients who lack resources to fund their health for TBI are the same people that sacrifice everything for the nation: Veterans. Using my previous experience in research, I hope to work with well-renowned professors to discover affordable treatments which can help reduce damage to the neural system and also allow people a second chance at living their lives to the fullest potential. Moreover I believe with strong determination and careful planning nothing is impossible.