I am primarily from the Indian subcontinent, and my family and I migrated to the United States around 2 years ago, halfway through high school. I was born in the United States but moved back due to occupational circumstances. Coming back seemed like a huge change, but I was excited about all the possibilities that came with shifting to such an opportunistic country. America was the perfect place to pursue my education and major in the one thing I loved: aerospace engineering and space sciences. What motivated me to pursue aerospace particularly is my lifelong dream to go beyond the horizons of earth and see what lies beyond. Throughout my life, growing up in a country where most people are expected to pursue conventional careers that are socially acceptable for women, like nursing and teaching, I wanted to do something that would challenge not only myself but also stereotypical ideals of women and the idea that "a woman can't do that." Through my undergraduate education in a bachelor's in aerospace engineering, I hope to make a difference in the world by working in American defense companies and giving back to a nation that gave me amazing opportunities to succeed in my career.

Growing up in different countries and changing locations multiple times exposed me to people of various cultures, stories, and mindsets. These experiences taught me how to respect the beliefs of others and pick up the good parts of everyone that unify us as human beings. Working together, collaborating, and cooperating has been a massive part of my high school career. I have been part of many cultural clubs, organizations, and platforms that required me to reach out and collaborate with many people. One such platform was our Instagram account, Academic Insider, created to give students access to college-related resources that are otherwise hard to find. Moving from another country and having trouble getting used to new education systems, I realized I wanted to be the guide I never had and help other students who were as clueless as me in their educational journeys. I decided to become a social media manager and content creator, sharing information I learned daily through TikToks and reels so students like myself would always feel free to keep up with peers. This not only built my confidence for public speaking but taught me how to reach out to people when I needed help and how to help people in need, which I think is a huge factor in determining success in projects, workplaces, and academia, and creating a familiar and welcoming community. My passion for academics and advocating for education expanded to helping children pursue education in the fields I am interested in. Being a summer camp counselor for elementary and middle schoolers as part of the Junior Texas Astronomical Society, When I told the kids that galaxies were 100,000 light-years across, their faces lit up in disbelief and surprise. They spent their time learning about galaxies, how they merge, and their types. They learned so much more than they knew before. It was a great experience teaching these little kids, getting their minds blown, and getting them interested in space! However, the most important activity I did that exposed me to the struggles and insecurities that local people were going through was volunteering at food pantry organizations like North Texas Food Bank and food insecurity organizations like Feed My Starving Children. On my first day walking into the organization, I didn't expect the number of people who needed volunteers like me there, the number of people dependent on volunteers to package their foods so they could be shipped to underdeveloped countries and received by them. Exposure to these experiences made me realize that often, our privileges and comfortable lives blind us, and we do not know the brutal things going around in the real world.

Since I could form opinions about what career I wanted, I always had a clear and distinct goal. That interest didn't fade as I was invested in various organizations and clubs that helped me further my interest in space sciences. My father had always expected me to stick to the dream I had made up years ago. To ensure this, he always took me to space organizations and bought me a telescope when I was 11. I set it up and finally opened my eyes to see that the big, large spots in the sky that I thought were stars were planets like Jupiter and Venus. That was where I developed my interest in theoretical astronomy and started researching on my own, learning about the theories of the universe: how it was created, the elements that make it up, and its properties and characteristics. I made a website, "Estella," to share my astronomy-related research based on my interests and time. It was one of my most enjoyable extracurriculars, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to invest my time into building something I enjoy very much. When I watched the film "Gravity," I saw the endless struggle for safety for those who aspire to go to space, specifically, in this case, Ryan Stone, an astronaut. My 5-year-old self saw her as a superhuman power, only to realize as I grew older that the experiences and hardships she faced unified us as humans. I was drawn to the movie and the need to be involved in innovation to ensure safer space travel. The desire to change how aerospace systems started at UTSA's rocketry camp, where I learned the workings of aerospace models and ways to ensure safer space flight, using OpenRocket software and calculating dimensions to ensure that landing and take-off are as smooth and secure as possible. This was the start of my desire to contribute to safer space travel so that people like myself and children worldwide aren't restricted from fulfilling their dreams because of the dangers that might come with it. However, Pitching ideas to make change and collaborating with people wasn't easy for me. As a child, I had moved not only schools but also countries multiple times, which made it extremely difficult to understand interactions with people, get used to education systems, and collaborate. However, changing locations enabled me to experience new things and helped me realize that change isn't necessarily bad but can be taken positively. These distinct experiences made me realize that interacting with different people was crucial to my personal and professional development, And I am immensely grateful for these changes. I was recently admitted into Texas A&M University for general engineering and will transfer to aerospace engineering after a year if I can maintain a 3.75 GPA. I hope to do this by being dedicated to my classes and trying my best not to score a grade lesser than A. I have already started preparing for the more challenging courses I would need to take in college as a senior in high school so that I can be well prepared. In college, I plan to be a part of and join multiple clubs to collaborate with peers in fun aerospace and robotics projects and put them up to display to the public. I hope to get a NASA internship to further my experience in systems engineering. Being an astronaut takes many qualifications, and I am committed to doing everything I can to get there. Apart from studying extensively, I work a part-time job after school at Pizza Hut to make sure that I can at least relieve the financial burden on my parents and do my part of paying for college. I hope to gain more assistance so I can complete my undergraduate degree without burden, as I still have a master's degree to go for. I have started applying for a flight school to obtain my student pilot's license, and I plan on obtaining my scuba certificate in college. Achieving this goal might seem unrealistic, but I believe I can accomplish this with scholarship and discipline.

Nothing is constant in this world but change. How can a concept so dynamic be so constant? My first day at my first Indian school was on the city's outskirts and utterly rural. It was a completely new environment for a child who'd spent her elementary years in a public school in the United States. I didn't understand the hostile looks directed at me when I spoke in an "American accent"; I felt hurt when I was called a terrorist for not acting "Indian" enough. I was too young to stand up for myself, so I adapted to their accent, behaviors, and mannerisms to survive in that cultural setup. That was the beginning of my adapting–something I'd have to do much. I had planned out my life in India–I didn't want anything to do with moving, changing, or adjusting. Was settling down in one place too much to ask for? Alas, change had different plans for me. One day, I came home from school and saw my mother packing; we were moving to the United States because of my dad's promotion. I felt the language and accent barrier when we got off the airplane. I was constantly mocked and looked at with a kind of inferiority for my accent, manners, and mentality. I would have to change it all once again. The continuous discomfort and struggle of changing who I was so the world would accept me became part of me. It took me nearly a year to adjust to the American school system. Change didn't surprise me when we moved cities just a year after moving to the USA. Moving to a new, relatively conservative town entailed challenging stereotypes and a lack of resources and caused my mental state to stoop extremely low. I felt that nothing I did could help me connect to my peers and that I would always be left behind because of my inability to handle change positively. It was one of the most challenging points in my life so far. But I was determined to be a version of myself that no amount of change could destroy. I wanted to be strong and confident enough to be constructed and empowered instead of being wrecked by change. I did this by keeping myself occupied, joining clubs, reaching out to the community by volunteering, expressing myself by putting out my interests, and reaching out to people who could help me grow and prosper in my area. Speech and debate, in particular, helped build my confidence and social skills. I was exposed to people of many different backgrounds and found that I was not alone in my struggle to fit in. My early lessons in adaptability helped me immensely to absorb into society. Now, no matter what circumstance comes my way, whether in new surroundings, college, workplace, or relationships, I am prepared to adapt and take on challenges. Most importantly, letting go of the past created more significant opportunities. I can positively adapt to any challenges, circumstances, and hurdles in my life.

Writing has been extremely influential during my time in high school. From writing for college classes, filling out essays for college applications, and even making my debate cases, writing was a friend I made along the way, especially in high school, and has been a friend that stayed. college-level writing skills obtained from college classes, like dual credit composition and literature, introduced me to peer-reviewed scholarly style writing and made me extremely sensitive to plagiarism and other issues I had not been aware of before. I was introduced to MLA and APA7 and understood the formatting differences, both of which are important not only to complete assignments in high school but also to continue publishing your own work in the future. Even though I'm majoring in a stem-related field in college, I truly believe that polishing my skills in writing has made me a better communicator, interpreter, and performer. countless hours were spent in the corner booth of taco bell, constructing research papers for the topics that i loved most: astrophysics, matter in the universe and aerospace systems. Because of my love for writing and publishing, I was able to make a website to share my research work and contributions to the field of astronomy, publishing over 10 articles and papers on the life cycle of stars, different galaxies, and the theories of the universe. Since I'm planning on going to Texas A&M University in the fall, I plan to join a number of research clubs to continue publishing articles and research on growing my website. apart from helping my career, writing has helped me achieve much in my extracurriculars, particularly debate. Throughout the year, I seized every opportunity to participate in multiple debates, such as Congress, policy, and extemporaneous events. Most of my focus was on Congress. Some of the bills related to regulations that would govern the career I wanted to obtain. For example, I was preparing for a tournament that utilized bills from the fall legislation for Congress. Writing helped me clearly articulate my thoughts into words and express my love for space by writing about the topics I love using debate. Writing is a necessary ability that has shaped my cognition and interpretation of various authors' writing, made me sensitive to the perspective of different sources of writing, and made me scholarly. I hope to use writing in college to further my educational goals and help me express my interest in my subject using writing.

My lifelong dream, like many other children, was to become an astronaut. The dream was specifically fueled instead of being shut down when I watched movies like Interstellar and Gravity. It made me go to a place many wouldn't dare to and make myself and my parents proud. I always strive to challenge myself, and plan goals that i know will be difficult to achieve, but reap amazing amounts of achievement. I still stick to that dream today. Since childhood, I have visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the ISRO Center in Banglore multiple times. I used any resource I could to educate myself and those around me. For a while, My only goal was to learn about space and astronomy. However, that extended into more technical topics like fluid dynamics and aircraft systems. I decided to pursue aerospace engineering and a minor in astrophysics so I could equip myself with all the skills necessary to fulfill my dream of being in an astronaut candidate program. I was recently admitted into Texas A&M University for general engineering and will transfer to aerospace engineering after a year if I'm able to maintain a 3.75 GPA. I hopw to do this by being dedicated to my classes, and trying my best to not score a grade lesser than A. I have already started oreparing for the harder classes i would need to take in college as a senior in high school so hat i can be well prepared. In college, I plan to be a part of and join multiple clubs to collaborate with peers in fun aerospace and robotics projects and put them up to display to the public. I hope to get NASA internships, so that i am able to furthr my experience in systems engineering. Being as astronaut takes many qualifications, and I am committed to do everything i can do get there. Apart from studying exenisvely, i work a part time job after school at Pizza Hut to make sure that i can atleast relive the financial burden on my parents and do my part of paying for college. I hope to gain more assistance so I can complete my undergraduate degree without burden, as I still have a master's degree to go for. I work out every day after school and my job so that I can be physically fit, which is also required for the program. I have started applying for a flight school to obtain my student pilot's license, and I plan on obtaining my scuba certificate in college. Achieving this goal might seem unrealistic, but I believe that with support and discipline, I will be able to achieve this.

I am most interested in aviation. When I was five years old, we got a book called "On the Moon" at the book fair. It was about astronauts who went to the moon and a little girl who watched them every step, aspiring to become like them. I saw myself becoming that little girl. I studied theoretical space concepts like black holes, white holes, and wormholes from free MIT lectures on astronomy posted on YouTube. I used any resources I could find to educate myself and shared what I learned to educate those around me, such as my friends, family, and peers. During my junior year in high school, I took an astronomy class to see what I could learn. I was presented with the Academic Excellence Award in Astronomy. I made a website, "Estella," to share my astronomy-related findings consisting of fun posters, presentations, and research work in hopes of helping other people learn about space and keep track of my learning progress. I decided to take aerospace engineering to expand my view of space sciences. I attended summer camps, where I took inspiration for the work I wanted to do in the future. The Principles of Engineering program exposed me to the new world of designing, building, and working with peers to achieve goals and solve problems. At Rocketry Camp specifically, I was able to improve my aerospace engineering skills by designing rockets using calculations and software to understand the workings of aerospace systems. I am constantly on the lookout for programs I can take during my free time to upgrade myself holistically. When it comes to space sciences for this reason, I see myself going very far in aerospace engineering because of my passion for space sciences, rocketry, and aviation. Growing up in different countries and changing locations exposed me to people of various cultures, stories, and mindsets. These experiences taught me how to respect the beliefs of others and pick up the good parts of everyone that unify us as human beings. I have been part of many cultural clubs, organizations, and platforms that required me to reach out and collaborate with many people. One such platform was our Instagram account, Academic Insider, created to give students access to college-related resources that are otherwise hard to find. Moving from another country and having trouble getting used to new education systems, I realized I wanted to be the guide I never had and help other students who were as clueless as me in their educational journeys. I decided to become a social media manager and content creator, sharing information I learned daily online so students like myself would always feel free to keep up with peers. This not only built my confidence for public speaking but taught me how to reach out to people when I needed help and how to help people in need, which I think is a huge factor in determining success in projects, workplaces, and academia, and creating a familiar and welcoming community. However, the most important activity I did that exposed me to the struggles and insecurities that local people were going through was volunteering at food pantry organizations like North Texas Food Bank and food insecurity organizations like Feed My Starving Children. I didn't expect the number of people who needed volunteers like me there, the number of people dependent on volunteers to help them live better lives. Exposure to these experiences made me realize that often, our privileges and comfortable lives blind us, and we do not know the brutal things going around in the real world.

As of now, I strive to be a positive force in society by volunteering consistently at local organizations in the community. Through volunteering, not only have I learned how to uplift others, but I have also been able to sympathize with others and understand their conditions. It has made me an empathetic and wise student and taught me to see the world from many people's points of view. In my free time, I like to make educational content on social media to help others learn as much as they can about college and higher education because I realize that finding resources can be difficult, especially in rural areas. Living in a relatively small town does the best job of explaining that to me. Here, in my community and in my school, I see many people struggling to understand application processes, education, and career planning. Through communication with other schools and using my privilege of having resources, I love to share the same information with those in need for free. I am involved in the Texas Astronomical Society, through which I help younger students learn about space topics through summer camps. I wish I had had this opportunity when I was younger, but since I didn't, I would like to make those students' dreams come true, and I strive to be the best teacher I can possibly be. Taking on this leadership role has taught me how to communicate, adjust, cooperate with people, and teach people based on how they learn best. This role has not only encouraged me to take on bigger leadership roles, such as in speech and debate but has also taught me that being a leader isn't limited to leading others. It also includes learning from those experiences as much as possible to make a good impact on society. Through higher education, including a bachelor's and master's in aerospace engineering, I see myself as the nation's future because I could contribute directly to a workforce with so much potential. Mankind's next big thing is to go to space, and I would like to be a huge part of that. Working towards an education in college will help me make a positive impact in this field and encourage others to do the same. With my previously mentioned experience in leadership, accountability, cooperation, and empathy, I will be able to not only contribute immensely to the future of innovation but also set an example for those who feel discouraged.