Everyone has different obstacles that they need to overcome to succeed. Personally, I used to struggle with my confidence. My lack of confidence reflected from not wanting to meet new people because I assumed they would not like me to second-guessing every answer I put on a test. My complete lack of confidence prohibited me from making the most out of my high school experience. I did not want to be involved in extracurriculars because I felt that I was not good enough, and I did not make many friends because I was never confident people would like me. This is the challenge I faced for the first three years of my high school experience, but as a senior, I realize that failing and not being perfect is a part of life. This realization did take longer than necessary, but I needed to take the initiative to surround myself with people that would build me up. Having the right group of friends may not seem like a large step, but these are the people that speak into your life and that you listen to mostly. Once I changed my inner circle of friends, I began to raise my hand more in class, be more outgoing, and even join some clubs. I went from having friends that degraded and weakened my self-esteem to friends that motivated, pushed, and wanted me to succeed. Overall, increasing my confidence will better prepare me for my future career and college life. After all, in college, I need to find a group of people that I can study with, and I will need to join different organizations to have access to more scholarships. As of two years ago, I would have even considered doing any of that, but now, I believe that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. Not to mention, as a future engineer I will need to speak up against any problems with documents and blueprints. Without the confidence to know that I am correct, I would not be able to do this. I would not be able to know for a fact that I will have completed projects completely and correctly. Confidence may not seem like a major obstacle to the bulk of people, but a lack of confidence can affect every area of life. The majority of people say that they would change disappointments and decisions that they have made in their life. However, I believe that these challenges and decisions make everyone the person they are currently. Without losing a loved one, a person will not cherish life and time. Without failing a test, a person can not truly value studying. Without friendships failing, a person will not know the type of people to surround themselves with. Every event in life creates the person we are today, so I am thankful for the largest challenge I have needed to overcome in my high school years.

During my freshman year in high school, I was required to take an Introduction to Engineering and Design class commonly known as IED. Based on the stories I was told about how challenging the class was and the crazy teacher, I was extremely nervous for this class and dreaded my first day. Surprisingly, I understood everything being taught in the class fairly well. This is the first time I was ever introduced to engineering and STEM information, so my interest was immediately peaked. I began to do further research into STEM to better understand careers like engineering, but I was shocked and confused to discover that women are a minority in any STEM field. I assumed that the websites I visited were wrong since I thoroughly enjoyed designing models and figuring out the way machines functioned. The next day, in class, I began to discuss with my teacher why females did not commonly follow career paths in STEM, and he said that women were not fit for any STEM career. I could not believe he would say this since I was understanding the material in his class better than the majority of males. At this point, I decided that a degree and career in STEM is what I want to pursue, so women can have a chance in this field. I want to prove that a woman can do a STEM job as good as if not better than a man. In IED class, the final project that the teacher gave us was to create a cube following multiple constraints he gave us. At first, everyone was a little confused, but as he explained further I could not help but get excited. Instantly, my mind began to create numerous ideas about the way I would create this cube and the materials to use. This project took a total of almost a month because of the multiple diagrams and blueprints the teacher wanted us to turn in. This was exhausting work, but in the end, after my documents were turned in I was able to create 3D images on the computers of each individual piece of the cube. Overall, I was extremely happy completing this project, and I was able to 3D print my cube since my grade was one of the top two in the class for this project. I can not explain the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that I had. I am excited and anxious to start pursuing my Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering, so I can see creations and ideas of mine come to life.