As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. I’m starting at the world-class Cornell University Engineering program this Fall studying Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Neuroscience. I am eager to use technology to study the brain. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I'm going to manage my personal wellness while attending college by building on the habits I built in my childhood and more recently in my high school years. I will go to the gym regularly. I love trying different machines and exercises at the gym. I like the leg press, weights and bench press, yoga balls, and more! I love going to the gym with my friends or with my brother and doing exercises together. That way keeping fit is way more fun, and we can spot each other and help keep each other safe. I'm planning to keep up going to the gym once I'm at Cornell University this Fall. I already know the gym. I also want to sign up for the climbing gym! I focus on eating healthy food and cooking for myself when I can. I learned Chinese and Italian cooking in high school. I learned Armenian cooking from my grandma and my mom and Persian dishes from my dad. My brother and I love cooking together. Taking care of your mental health is so important. I try to get enough sleep and rest. It's important to find ways to keep anxiety level lower and learn ways to manage stress. I love to spend time with my family and friends. It's fun and helps me restore myself. I find joy in music, art, and languages. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won the Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition in 2021 and 2022 and performed at Carnegie Hall twice! I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more: Armenian, Farsi, and the American Sign Language (ASL). Having talents outside STEM nourishes me and helps me approach my studies from a unique perspective. Finally, taking care of others and supporting my community helps me on my wellness journey. I enjoy sharing my love for music with others. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back and support my community. This job has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. As I advance my education, I will continue to invest in my wellness, and expand my work as a mentor and advocate!

I'm interested in studying and doing research in biomedical engineering, computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I have been curious about robots, coding, and how our brain works since I was very young. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. I nurtured my passion in my high school’s neuroscience club. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I’m starting at the world-class Cornell University College of Engineering undergraduate program in the Fall of 2023 studying Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Neuroscience. I am eager to use technology to study the brain. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD. I am so honored to have received awards for my work. I developed AI/deep learning algorithms using PyTorch in Google Colab helping my hackathon team win the Wolfram Prize and the Top 3 Winners Prize for Space Debris Collection via Satellite Identification at Vivid Hacks. I am the winner of the 2023 Aspirations in Computing Award by the Massachusetts Affiliate and the National Honorable Mention by The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), of the 2023 Michael J. Miller Award by the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), and the 2023 Brookline High School (BHS) Special Award by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) - Highest Honor. I have been inducted into the National Honor Society (NHS). I find joy in music, art, and languages. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won the Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition in 2021 and 2022 and performed at Carnegie Hall twice! I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more: Armenian, Farsi, and American Sign Language (ASL). Having talents outside STEM nourishes me and helps me approach my studies from a unique perspective. I believe that a career as a neuroscience researcher uncovering mysteries about the brain and how we operate, serving as a role model, mentor and advocate will bring me fulfillment because I will learn and grow, and help others do the same so we can succeed together.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I plan to make a positive impact on the world through my work in STEM, community service, serving as a mentor, a role model, and an advocate for change. I have been curious about robots, coding, and how our brain works since I was very young. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (Internet of Things). My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. I nurtured my passion in my high school’s neuroscience club. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I’m starting at the world-class Cornell University Engineering undergraduate program in the Fall of 2023 studying Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Neuroscience. I am eager to use technology to study the brain. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD. When I was young, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. I enjoy sharing my love for music with others. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back and support my community. This job has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. I’m an active member of my high school's Students for Equity in Education club. I led our advocacy for the Massachusetts State Legislature bill that ensures a more diverse educator workforce and implements training against educator biases. As I advance my education, I will grow my impact as a role model, mentor, and advocate!

I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I have been curious about robots, coding, and how our brain works since I was very young. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Over the past few years, many people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. I nurtured my passion in my high school’s neuroscience club. Last but not least, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I’m starting at the world-class Cornell University Engineering undergraduate program in the Fall of 2023 studying Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Neuroscience. I am eager to use technology to study the brain. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD. I am so honored to have received awards for my work. I developed AI/deep learning algorithms using PyTorch in Google Colab helping my hackathon team win the Wolfram Prize and the Top 3 Winners Prize for Space Debris Collection via Satellite Identification at Vivid Hacks. I am the winner of the 2023 Aspirations in Computing Award by the Massachusetts Affiliate and the National Honorable Mention by The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), of the 2023 Michael J. Miller Award by the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), and the 2023 Brookline High School (BHS) Special Award by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) - Highest Honor. I have been inducted into the National Honor Society (NHS). I find joy in music, art, and languages. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won the Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition in 2021 and 2022 and performed at Carnegie Hall twice! I enjoy sharing my love for music with others. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back and support my community. This job has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more: Armenian, Farsi, and the American Sign Language (ASL). Having talents outside STEM nourishes me and helps me approach my studies from a unique perspective. I’m an active member of my high school's Students for Equity in Education club. I led our advocacy for the Massachusetts State Legislature bill that ensures a more diverse educator workforce and implements training against educator biases. As I advance my education, I will expand my work as a mentor and advocate! On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I have been curious about robots, coding, and how our brain works since I was very young. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Over the past few years, many people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. I nurtured my passion in my high school’s neuroscience club. Last but not least, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I’m starting at the world-class Cornell University Engineering undergraduate program in the Fall of 2023 studying Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Neuroscience. I am eager to use technology to study the brain. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD. I find joy in music, art, and languages. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won the Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition in 2021 and 2022 and performed at Carnegie Hall twice! I enjoy sharing my love for music with others. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back and support my community. This job has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more: Armenian, Farsi, and American Sign Language (ASL). Having talents outside STEM nourishes me and helps me approach my studies from a unique perspective. I’m an active member of my high school's Students for Equity in Education club. I led our advocacy for the Massachusetts State Legislature bill that ensures a more diverse educator workforce and implements training against educator biases. As I advance my education, I will expand my work as a mentor and advocate! On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

Last year, the elevator in my school broke down. A student who uses a wheelchair had classes on the 4th floor every day. Her teacher and classmates carried her and her wheelchair up and down the stairs for months! Despite all the uproar, the elevator remained broken. It was so outrageous to see this problem persist in our "good" high school and "good" school system. I have been thinking that this is an example of an engineering challenge that could benefit from community awareness. I know that unfortunately accessibility problems often don’t get the attention they deserve yet creating accessible spaces helps everyone. I've come to rely on the sidewalk curbs that I use every day while walking, biking and rolling a cart, and it's so easy to forget that they are a hard-won victory as part of the Americans with Disabilities Act and only became possible after intense campaigning that included disabled people who couldn't walk sliding their way up the stairs of the United States Congress!! So I thought to myself, what can we do in our town to raise awareness of accessibility challenges? We could build an electronic billboard to display accessibility problems in our town, with a legend highlighting how long they’ve remained unresolved and how urgent they are. We could program an app and a website to help community members report and check on problems. We’d store data in a database. There is a slogan in the Disability community: ‘Nothing About Us Without Us.’ It is essential to get feedback from disabled students and family members on this proposal. By leading advocacy for Massachusetts State Legislation for diversity in hiring and training to reduce educator biases on behalf of the Students for Equity in Education club at my school, I have learned effective promotion techniques: sending push notifications to every student, broadcasting morning announcements, posting to social media groups, and distributing flyers around town. Infrastructure work often takes significantly longer than promised, and I’d like to help things get done more efficiently. My town’s government should review the billboard during monthly meetings. More transparency will help get vital accessibility problems fixed faster. Once our effort in our town is established and successful, we can expand to other towns in Massachusetts and then to other states. As I’m writing this essay, this is an idea I’d like to present to my club and pursue further! Thank you Richard Neumann Scholarship team for all you do to support students like me -- and our communities!!

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I led my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I led my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

Over the past few years, many of the people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to use my skills to build solutions! I'm interested in studying and doing research in computational neuroscience, computer science, and biomedical engineering. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and led robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! Today, I am a young woman who is incredibly interested in engineering and science. I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I persevere through challenges, I love to learn, and I know my perspective has value. This is one of the reasons I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. And I grew as a mentor and role model. I learned in my robotics classes that building robots gives you joy and power. As a student and a mentor, I want to bring this experience to everyone. This Fall, I’m excited to start at the highly competitive program at the Cornell University College of Engineering, an amazing place to use technology to study the brain and how we operate. It’s my goal to do my own research and get my Ph.D.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice -- and made my own Net Impact! When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I led my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission, my Net Impact to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

Over the past years, many people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand why this happens and use my skills to build solutions. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Today, I am a young woman who is incredibly interested in engineering and science. I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I persevere through challenges, I love to learn, and I know my perspective has value. This is one of the reasons I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. And I grew as a mentor and role model. I learned in my robotics classes that building robots gives you joy and power. As a student and a mentor, I want to bring this experience to everyone. I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. I want to find a way to monetize my discoveries and create jobs by starting my own medical device business. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I want to focus on security, privacy and ethics, making sure we respect our patients and their data and make it possible to use it safely for the development of new technologies. I want to learn from standards used in medicine and engineering and create new ones for the medical device industry, modeling the way in my new field. This Fall, I’m excited to start at the highly competitive Computer Science program at the Cornell University College of Engineering, an amazing place to use technology to study the brain and how we operate. It’s my goal to do my own research and get my PhD.

Generational wealth refers to the accumulated wealth passed down from one generation to another within a family. This type of wealth is built over time through a combination of factors, including a family's ability to generate income, make smart financial decisions, and invest wisely. To me, generational wealth represents an opportunity to provide financial security for future generations of my family and to help them achieve their dreams. In order to achieve generational wealth, I plan to take a multi-faceted approach that involves both earning and investing. In terms of earning, I am focused on investing in my college and graduate education, and building a successful career in biomedical engineering, computer science and neuroscience, which will provide me with a stable source of income that I can use to invest in assets that appreciate over time. Additionally, I plan to invest in real estate, which has proven to be a reliable source of long-term wealth for many families. Investing is a critical component of building generational wealth, and I plan to be strategic in my approach. One of my main investment strategies will be to diversify my portfolio, spreading my investments across different types of assets to reduce risk. I will also be investing in assets that have a strong history of appreciation, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Finally, I will be looking for opportunities to invest in startups and other emerging companies that have the potential for high growth, and founding my own business to take monetize my ideas and capture the earnings. However, building generational wealth is not just about earning and investing. It also requires careful financial planning and management. This means creating a budget, tracking expenses, and being disciplined about saving and investing. I plan to work with a financial advisor to create a comprehensive financial plan that takes into account my long-term goals and helps me stay on track. It is also important to me that as I stand on my feet financially, I also take care of others in my family and my community. Having wealth means having resources to support those who need my help. Ultimately, building generational wealth is about creating a legacy that goes beyond the present moment. It's about investing in the future and ensuring that future generations have the resources they need to achieve their dreams. Through careful planning, smart investing, and a commitment to financial responsibility, I believe that I can build a strong foundation of wealth that will benefit my family for generations to come.

Over the past few years, many people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand how these challenges originate and help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I want to do my own research and get my PhD. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Today, I am a young woman who is incredibly interested in engineering and science. I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I persevere through challenges, I love to learn, and I know my perspective has value. This is one of the reasons I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. And I grew as a mentor and role model. I learned in my robotics classes that building robots gives you joy and power. As a student and a mentor, I want to bring this experience to everyone. I'm excited to have been accepted at the highly competitive Cornell University College of Engineering, an amazing place to study Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience - areas I'm most interested in. It's my goal to do my own research and get my PhD. Thank you for all you do to support students like me!

I've been biking for as long as I can remember. My parents have photos of me on my trike at 1 year old!! I love going around Boston on my bike. I often bike with my mom, and sometimes with my brother and father. We love going on bike paths along the Charles River and around the Jamaica Pond -- and just riding over to a nearby cafe. My goals to improve our roadways right now are focused on becoming a safer driver. I'm learning to drive right now, and I think safe driving is so important! Just like you and me, all people on the road are children, family members, and loved ones, too. Rushing and not paying attention on the road runs the risk of hurting yourself and others. There are too many stories of people -- and of course too many cyclists -- getting hurt because of unsafe driving in all of our communities. It's essential to learn the rule of the road and to follow it every time to be able to keep yourself and others safe. Stopping at stop signs, and stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks are examples of two rules of the road that seem frequently ignored. It's such a small price to pay to keep you and the people around you safe!! It's important to reduce distractions while you are behind the steering wheel of your car. It's illegal for drivers on a learner's permit like me to use cell phones while driving for a reason. The buzzing and the many distractions on a cell phone can cost us our focus and bring about harm to the precious lives we should be doing everything to protect. No text or social media post is worth harming people with a vehicle weighing over a ton. Turn off your phone or put it on Do Not Disturb before getting behind the wheel of your car. When riding with friends, it's important to keep things quiet and calm so the driver can focus on what's before them on the road. Loud music, screaming, and arguments in the car can be so distracting! If you see your friend who is driving using their phone, stop them and tell them it's not OK. If your friend won't stop, ask them to pull over, get out, and find another way to travel where you need to go. Humoring your friend by letting them do dangerous things is not worth the risk to your life and the lives of others. Loving people means decisively giving them firm feedback, especially at crucial moments like this when it needs to be given, and making sure it's clear and listened to. It's illegal for teens to drink and do drugs. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol kills. You don't want to be part of this. Yes, your license will get suspended. you will receive harsh civil and criminal punishment, but the highest price: harming human life is the biggest thing I worry about when I think about the impact of someone driving not sober. If your friend is under the influence, stop them from driving. They can walk home, take a cab, or get a ride: there are so many ways to keep everyone safe. When you get the car keys, you get a big responsibility. You need to live up to it by learning how to drive well and how to respect everyone on the road. Respect, care and knowledge are essential for keeping everyone around you safe and well. Safer teen drivers are a huge part of safer roads.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. When I was 11, I presented at the Boston VR Meetup on the virtual reality maze game I programmed. My maze was incredible because you felt like you were physically in it, trying to escape. Grown-up experts presented their creations next. There I was again, the only kid in a room of professional engineers. A woman even gave me her business card and offered me a future job at her company! Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together. I’m excited to start at the highly competitive Cornell University College of Engineering this Fall. I am eager to use technology to study the brain and to advance our knowledge of how we operate. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD in Neuroscience. Investing in my education is helping me grow as a mentor and role model. Thank you for all you do to support students like me!

My mom is Armenian and my father is Iranian. The strongest way I’ve been able to connect with my cultural background is through food. My grandma lives near my family and makes amazing Armenian food for my brother and me. She plays Armenian music and dances with me and my brother. When things quiet down, my grandma loves listening to me sing the songs we just danced to. And, while there is sometimes a language barrier, we always find a way to communicate through music and art. I was baptized in the St. James Church in Watertown, MA. We also attend the Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, MA. Being in the Armenian church moves me and reminds me of the stories I've heard of the heroes of the past, carrying two halves of a hand-written Bible on their backs to save the books, now displayed in the Matenadaran Museum in the capital of Armenia Yerevan. I'm learning Armenian. I love the language, the letters, the history, the songs. My family is going to visit Armenia this summer, and my brother and I can't wait!! As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. In high school, I led my first robotics team to win a prize in FIRST Robotics competition. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together. I'm excited to start at the Cornell University School of Engineering this Fall. It's my goal to do my own research and get my PhD. I want to study Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience, and advance our understanding of how the brain works. I can't wait to bring what I learn to the Armenian community through teaching, and research and business collaboration. When we are in Armenia this summer, we will visit Spitak where my mother founded a computer lab, and meet her former students. We will visit the Yerevan State University and build collaborations we will grow as I advance my education!

I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots I built. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. I want to study biomedical engineering, computer science, and neuroscience in college. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to tackle them. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to build engineering tools to make it easier to experiment with impactful therapies and develop new ones. I want to do my own research and get my PhD. I want to monetize my ideas and create jobs by launching my own business. My dream as a future engineering leader is to build medical devices to improve mental health. As a young woman in STEAM, I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I’ve found joy in music, art, and languages since before I can remember. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition! I enjoy sharing my love for music with others. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back and support my community. This job has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. I draw to freeze a moment in time, to encapsulate its joy and beauty: from a vase of flowers to my grandma holding me as a baby. It is wonderful to see the happiness my art brings my family and friends. I love learning languages. I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more. I am also in the American Sign Language club at my school. I want to be able to communicate with a wide variety of people. Having talents outside of STEM fields nourishes me and helps me approach academics from a unique perspective. I learned in my robotics classes that building robots gives you joy and power. As a future engineer, a mentor and a role model in STEAM, I want to bring these experiences to everyone!

I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and led robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Today, I am a young woman who is incredibly interested in engineering and science. I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I persevere through challenges, I love to learn, and I know my perspective has value. This is one of the reasons I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I learned in my robotics classes that building robots gives you joy and power. As a student, a mentor and a role model, I want to bring this experience to everyone. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! I'm excited to start at the Cornell University College of Engineering in the fall. I'm interested in computer science, biomedical engineering, and computational neuroscience. My goal is to do my own research and get my PhD.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. Today, I am a young woman who is incredibly interested in engineering and science. I have had to fight for my voice to be heard. I persevere through challenges, I love to learn, and I know my perspective has value. This is one of the reasons I love to mentor young girls; they remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. And I grew as a mentor and role model. Over the past years, many of the people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech! It's my goal to do my own research and get my Ph.D. My dream job is to be a researcher and a PI leading a lab. I also dream of monetizing my ideas and creating jobs by starting my own business and developing medical devices to improve mental health. I am the best candidate for receiving this scholarship because I'm an ambitious learner, always focused on growing myself, and on supporting others as a mentor and role model.

Feminism is standing up for equality for women, advocating for women's rights as human rights, and prioritizing intersectionality: centering Black, Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, disabled women, and women in the Global South. Feminism is important to me because I'm a woman, and because while women constitute 50% of Earth's population there are many problems affecting women disproportionately, like gender wage gap, discriminatory technologies developed by and for men like facial recognition, etc. My AP Physics teacher Ms. Mangan is an inspirational person to me. She makes everyone included in her classroom. She is a powerful science storyteller. She stages stunning physics experiments to help everyone learn and constantly adapts to our different learning styles. For example, to help us understand gravity, she used an electromagnet to hold up a toy monkey under the ceiling, and then disengaged the magnet to demonstrate that if you throw a banana aiming directly at the monkey, you will hit it; if you aim below or above, you will miss the monkey; this is because gravity works in the vertical plane. Everyone feels comfortable around Ms. Mangan. She keeps her physics classroom open at all hours; my friends and I love to hang out there and discuss science with each other. She is very kind and obviously intelligent, and yet she doesn't make you feel dumb. She wants everyone to succeed and treats her students with dignity and respect. When students who were struggling in her class came for help on an assignment, she made sure that they figured out the steps on their own and got to experience their own ‘Aha!’ moments. As a young woman in STEM, it has been so impactful for me to be supported by successful and brilliant women like Ms. Mangan. She is teaching physics powerfully and making space for so many more of us to grow up to be excellent scholars and leaders. I have been building robots for as long as I can remember. I have taken robotics classes since I was 9. Back then, I did not fully understand the significance of what I was doing. Now I know that I was the only girl in those classrooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers loved robots – no matter their gender. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many young girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. By the time I entered high school, I had a better grasp of the inequities at play. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed that significantly fewer girls were enrolled in the camp than boys. I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to make sure the girls were as excited about coding robots as boys. I coached all of the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up students multiple times a day to share their creations. I asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. Kids worked in groups and took inspiration from one another, excitedly expanding on their builds. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. This work experience helped me grow as a mentor and role model. I learned in the robotics classes I took growing up that building robots gives you joy and power. As a feminist mentor and a role model, I work hard to bring this experience to everyone.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

My biggest role model is my AP Physics teacher Ms. Mangan. She is an excellent leader, someone who is inclusive, lifts others up, and makes a positive impact on the world around us. My AP Physics teacher Ms. Mangan is an example of an excellent leader. She makes everyone included in her classroom. She is a powerful science storyteller. She stages stunning physics experiments to help everyone learn and constantly adapts to our different learning styles. For example, to help us understand gravity, she used an electromagnet to hold up a toy monkey under the ceiling, and then disengaged the magnet to demonstrate that if you throw a banana aiming directly at the monkey, you will hit it; if you aim below or above, you will miss the monkey; this is because gravity works in the vertical plane. Everyone feels comfortable around Ms. Mangan. She keeps her physics classroom open at all hours; my friends and I love to hang out there and discuss science with each other. She is very kind and obviously intelligent, and yet she doesn't make you feel dumb. She wants everyone to succeed and treats her students with dignity and respect. When students who were struggling in her class came for help on an assignment, she made sure that they figured out the steps on their own and got to experience their own ‘Aha!’ moments. As a young woman in STEM, it has been so impactful for me to be supported by successful and brilliant women like Ms. Mangan. She is teaching physics powerfully and making space for so many more of us to grow up to be excellent scholars and leaders. I've been building robots since I was 8. I led my FIRST Robotics team in 8th grade. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. Having Ms. Mangan as my role model has helped me grow to be more tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I've been educating myself by reading and listening to experts and asking my parents and friends for financial advice.I hope to help others too! Here are the top 10 pieces of financial advice I've gathered. 1. Start small I heard the NPR Hidden Brain podcast about paying off debt. The idea is that you start paying the smallest debts first. The sense of accomplishment from paying off your loads gives you satisfaction and helps you stay focused on your financial plans. I don't have loans to repay yet, but I can apply this advice to my schoolwork. For example when I am juggling a bunch of projects, if I finish the smallest one, the sense of accomplishment energizes me to keep working. 2. Budget Another powerful piece of financial advice I read about online is to make a budget. I already use checklists and task lists to keep track of my schoolwork and my college applications. When it's time for me to go to college and be on my own, I'll make a budget with my parents and try to stick to it, keeping track of when I go over my estimates. 3. Every big thing matters An important piece of advice I heard from my parents is to take control of your largest expenses. For example, we did a budget analysis at home recently and realized that we're spending too much on food. We thought about our options and decided to change grocery stores and reduce spending on takeout. Knowing where your money is going helps reduce expenses in a systematic and impactful way. Some of the advice below I’ve been given but haven’t had the opportunity to apply yet. 4. Increase your earnings Study hard, build your skills and your network, learn about and step up to take on opportunities to grow your income. Growing your earnings is one of the most powerful ways to advance financially. Learn negotiation skills, understand the market value of your skillset and make sure you receive the pay you deserve. 5. Save Make sure you set aside a portion of your money in savings. If you're working and your company offers a retirement 401(k) account match, definitely take advantage of that. Decide what portion of your money you are going to put aside and stick to that. Learn about stocks and other assets to help you accelerate your savings. 6. Have an emergency fund Figure out how much you need to put aside for emergencies. The rule of thumb is to have enough to go for 6 months. This is helpful if you can’t find a job or have to take time off to recover from injury or illness. 7. Own your home Hope ownership can be a powerful way to advance financially. It gives you a place to hang your hat. The value of your property tends to grow over the years. Your investment will provide a sense of stability and a nest egg for your family. 8. Do your taxes Take an interest in your financials including your taxes. Whether you do the math yourself or contract a professional to help you, know the state of your finances and keep on top of them. Taxes will be among the highest expenses in your future, make sure you know how they are structured. 9. Learn Debt is extremely expensive, so understanding how things like home loans an credit cards work is important. 10. Help others Don't forget about others in your community/the world who need our help. Know what is important to you and contribute to those causes and community funds.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. Over the past year, I've growm from a girl who does STEM into a mentor and a role model for others. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM, a mentor and a role model. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

I am going to share 10 of the best pieces of financial advice I have heard from my family and friends and read about myself: 1. Start small 2. Make a budget 3. Every big thing matters 4. Increase your earnings 5. Save 6. Have an emergency fund 7. Own your home 8. Do your own taxes 9. Learn about finance 10. Help Others Let's dig in! 1. Start small I heard the NPR Hidden Brain podcast about paying off debt. The idea is that you start paying the smallest debts first. The sense of accomplishment from paying off your loads gives you satisfaction and helps you stay focused on your financial plans. I don't have loans to repay yet, but I can apply this advice to my schoolwork. For example when I am juggling a bunch of projects, if I start and finish the smallest one, I start to feel that sense of accomplishment and am feeling energized to keep working and making progress. 2. Make a budget Another powerful piece of financial advice I read about online is to make a budget. I already use checklists and task lists to keep track of my schoolwork and my college applications. When it's time for me to go to college and be on my own, I'll make a budget with my parents and try to stick to it, keeping track of when I go over my estimates. 3. Every big thing matters An important piece of advice I heard from my parents is to look for and take control of your largest expenses. For example, we did a budget analysis at home recently and realized that we're spending too much on food. We thought about our options and decided to change grocery stores and reduce spending on takeout. Knowing where most of your money is going helps reduce expenses in a systematic and impactful way. Some of the advice below I’ve been given but haven’t had the opportunity to apply yet. 4. Increase your earnings Study hard, build your skills and your network, learn about and step up to take on opportunities to grow your income. Growing your earnings is one of the most powerful ways to advance financially. Learn negotiation skills, understand the market value of your skillset and make sure you receive the pay you deserve. 5. Save Make sure you set aside a portion of your money in savings. If you're working and your company offers a retirement 401(k) account match, definitely take advantage of that. Decide what portion of your money you are going to put aside and stick to that. Learn about stocks and other assets to help you accelerate your savings. 6. Have an emergency fund Figure out how much you need to put aside for emergencies. The rule of thumb is to have enough to go for 6 months. This is helpful if you can’t find a job or have to take time off to recover from injury or illness. 7. Own your home Hope ownership can be a powerful way to advance financially. It gives you a place to hang your hat. The value of your property tends to grow over the years. Your investment will grow in value over years and provide a sense of stability and a nest egg for your family. 8. Do your own taxes Take an interest in your financials including your taxes. Whether you do the math yourself or contract a professional to help you, know the state of your finances and keep on top of them. Taxes will be among the highest expenses in your future, make sure you know how they are structured. 9. Learn about finance Debt is extremely expensive, so understanding how things like home loans and credit cards work is important. 10. Help others Don't forget about others in your community and in the world around us who need our help. Think what is important to you and contribute to those causes and community funds. Think donations and mutual aid. Thank you for all you do to support students like me! Hope that this financial advice can help other students and new professionals. So grateful to have the opportunity to share the best financial advice I heard for my SmartAsset High School SmartStart Personal Finance Scholarship application!

I’ve been in maker communities my entire life. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing in, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. When I was 11, I presented at the Boston VR (Virtualy Reality) Meetup on the maze game I programmed, again, the only kid in a room of professional engineers. A woman even gave me her business card and offered me a future job at her company! Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. It became my mission to ensure girls were as excited about robots as boys. I coached kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. Over the past few years, people I love have been running into mental health challenges. I want to understand why this happens and how to help. In my robotics classes, I’ve learned about sensors and IoT (Internet of Things). I’m eager to use technology to study the brain. I’ve nurtured my passion for learning how we operate in my school’s neuroscience club. I’m so excited to be accepted at the highly competitive Cornell University College of Engineering, an amazing place to study and do research in areas I'm most interested in! I’m an active member of my high school's Students for Equity in Education club. I just finished leading our advocacy for the State Legislature bill that ensures a more diverse educator workforce and implements educator training. Our educators need to be representative of the world around us and I want to do what I can to help. I’ve found joy in music, art, and languages since before I can remember. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition! I especially enjoy sharing my love for music with others. For the past 3 years, I've been volunteering as a teacher of private piano lessons to elementary school students to give back to my community. This work has been very important to me: I value teaching and helping others succeed. I also like guiding my students to see the beauty of music and sharing the different choices artists make when playing a piece. Having talents outside of STEM fields nourishes me and helps me approach academics from a unique perspective. Through my communities, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

It's important to manage my finances as a student so that I can make my money go a long way, and to focus on what is important to me in life. Here are the top 5 pieces of advice I heard and am working to apply to manage my finances as a student. 1. Start small I heard the NPR Hidden Brain podcast about paying off debt. The idea is that you start paying the smallest debts first. The sense of accomplishment from paying off your loads gives you satisfaction and helps you stay focused on your financial plans. I don't have loans to repay yet, but I can apply this advice to my schoolwork. For example when I am juggling a bunch of projects, if I start and finish the smallest one, I start to feel that sense of accomplishment and am feeling energized to keep working and making progress. 2. Budget Another powerful piece of financial advice I read about online is to make a budget. I already use checklists and task lists to keep track of my schoolwork and my college applications. When it's time for me to go to college and be on my own, I'll make a budget with my parents and try to stick to it, keeping track of when I go over my estimates. 3. Every big thing matters An important piece of advice I heard from my parents is to look for and take control of your largest expenses. For example, we did a budget analysis at home recently and realized that we're spending too much on food. We thought about our options and decided to change grocery stores and reduce spending on takeout. Knowing where most of your money is going helps reduce expenses in a systematic and impactful way. Some of the advice below I’ve been given but haven’t had the opportunity to apply yet. 4. Increase your earnings Study hard, build your skills and your network, learn about and step up to take on opportunities to grow your income. Growing your earnings is one of the most powerful ways to advance financially. Learn negotiation skills, understand the market value of your skillset and make sure you receive the pay you deserve. 5. Save Make sure you set aside a portion of your money in savings. If you're working and your company offers a retirement 401(k) account match, definitely take advantage of that. Decide what portion of your money you are going to put aside and stick to that. Learn about stocks and other assets to help you accelerate your savings. Thank you for all your work to support students like me!

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion for computer science and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. I recently learned that I have been admitted to Cornell University's highly competitive Computer Science program in the College of Engineering. My goal is to do research and get my Ph.D. I want to further our understanding of how the brain works. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in computer science. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

Our Tangled Branches Make Us Stronger Medium: Marker on color posterboard Date: 2021 With this piece, I created what my family calls Our Family Tree. My father was born in Iran, and my mother in Armenia. The two branches of my tree are labeled in Persian "Our Tangled Branches" and in Armenian "Make Us Stronger", and are tangled together to represent my heritage. My mom is Armenian and my dad is Iranian. The strongest way I’ve been able to connect with my cultural background is through food. My grandma (mom’s side) lives near my family and makes amazing Armenian food for my brother and me. She plays Armenian music and dances with me and my brother. When things quiet down, my grandma loves listening to me sing the songs we just danced to. And, while there is sometimes a language barrier, we always find a way to communicate through music and art. When my family visits my aunt and uncle (dad’s side) in California, we all spend hours together talking while making food and then a few more hours sitting together around the table. Love and laughter fill the air. My family is made up of two beautiful cultures and I feel my happiest when surrounded by them. I find joy in music, art, and languages. I work hard to improve my skills. I even won Second Prize at the Crescendo International Piano Competition! I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning Armenian, Farsi and ASL (American Sign Language). I recently learned that I was admitted to Cornell University's highly competitive Computer Science program in the College of Engineering. I’m excited to be part of the large international community at Cornell. I enjoy studying languages and learning about cultures different than mine. This year, I have been chosen to be an Ambassador for my high school. I welcome international students and host events for them. I am excited to attend a diverse school like Cornell with ample opportunities to learn from my peers. Yes, I'm a proud girl in STEM. My family has worked incredibly hard to build opportunities for me: enrolling me in countless robotics classes and teams and coding camps. Yet, I’ve often been the only girl in those rooms. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to make space for myself, and model the way for the next generation of girls in STEM. Thank you for all your work supporting students like me!

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion for computer science and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM setting out to study computer science at Cornell University. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together. Many of my family and friends, including my godfather Tim Mouradian, are veterans. I am so grateful for their sacrifice: putting their lives on the line and doing hard work away from loved ones to protect us.

1. Start small I heard the NPR Hidden Brain podcast about paying off debt. The idea is that you start paying the smallest debts first. The sense of accomplishment from paying off your loads gives you satisfaction and helps you stay focused on your financial plans. I don't have loans to repay yet, but I can apply this advice to my schoolwork. For example when I am juggling a bunch of projects, if I start and finish the smallest one, I start to feel that sense of accomplishment and am feeling energized to keep working and making progress. 2. Budget Another powerful piece of financial advice I read about online is to make a budget. I already use checklists and task lists to keep track of my schoolwork and my college applications. When it's time for me to go to college and be on my own, I'll make a budget with my parents and try to stick to it, keeping track of when I go over my estimates. 3. Every big thing matters An important piece of advice I heard from my parents is to look for and take control of your largest expenses. For example, we did a budget analysis at home recently and realized that we're spending too much on food. We thought about our options and decided to change grocery stores and reduce spending on takeout. Knowing where most of your money is going helps reduce expenses in a systematic and impactful way. Some of the advice below I’ve been given but haven’t had the opportunity to apply yet. 4. Increase your earnings Study hard, build your skills and your network, learn about and step up to take on opportunities to grow your income. Growing your earnings is one of the most powerful ways to advance financially. Learn negotiation skills, understand the market value of your skillset and make sure you receive the pay you deserve. 5. Save Make sure you set aside a portion of your money in savings. If you're working and your company offers a retirement 401(k) account match, definitely take advantage of that. Decide what portion of your money you are going to put aside and stick to that. Learn about stocks and other assets to help you accelerate your savings. 6. Have an emergency fund Figure out how much you need to put aside for emergencies. The rule of thumb is to have enough to go for 6 months. This is helpful if you can’t find a job or have to take time off to recover from injury or illness. 7. Own your home Hope ownership can be a powerful way to advance financially. It gives you a place to hang your hat. The value of your property tends to grow over the years. Your investment will grow in value over years and provide a sense of stability and a nest egg for your family. 8. Do your taxes Take an interest in your financials including your taxes. Whether you do the math yourself or contract a professional to help you, know the state of your finances and keep on top of them. Taxes will be among the highest expenses in your future, make sure you know how they are structured. 9. Learn Debt is extremely expensive, so understanding how things like home loans an credit cards work is important. 7. Help others Don't forget about others in your community and in the world around us who need our help. Think what is important to you and contribute to those causes and community funds.

I'm interested in how our brain works, and would like to study neuroscience and computer science. As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. When I was 11, I presented at the Boston VR Meetup on the virtual reality maze game I programmed. My maze was incredible because you felt like you were physically in it, trying to escape. Grown-up experts presented their creations next. There I was again, the only kid in a room of professional engineers. A woman even gave me her business card and offered me a future job at her company! After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

First, a bit about my computer science goals. As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher said that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. My non-computer-science goals are to strive for equity and to bring creativity to all we do. At my high school, I am a member of the Students for Equity in Education club. I am leading our advocacy for state legislation on diversity training and equity in hiring. I love learning languages. I speak 3 languages well (English, Russian, and Mandarin) and am learning a few more. I am also in the American Sign Language club at my high school. It is essential to be able to communicate with a wide variety of people. I find joy in music and art. I have been playing piano, singing, and drawing since before I can remember. I work hard to improve my musical and artistic skills. Having talents outside of STEM fields nourishes me and helps me generate new ideas and lift up others.

As a young girl, I was shy but curious about the world. Through robotics, I found my passion and my voice. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for over two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing into the room, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. I loved plugging wires into breadboards and watching our robot execute what I coded it to do. After 8th grade, I joined my first robotics team. We competed in a FIRST Robotics competition. We programmed our robot to perform tasks and help our LEGO city. We got into a rhythm: countless trial-and-error, programming the robot, and tweaking its starting position to ensure it reached its destination. The room surged with happiness and cheers when our robot accomplished something as small as knocking a LEGO bat off a tree. We got so into it nobody wanted to go home after our meetings. Back then, I did not yet understand the significance of my work. Now I realize I was the only girl in many of those rooms. As I got older, I noticed the number of girls in my robotics classes and teams dropping. From my experience, all of my peers, no matter their gender, loved robots. I couldn’t imagine what was deterring so many girls from experiencing the same joy I found in building robots. In high school, I began to understand the inequities at play. I took a robotics class the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited. Our project was to build and code a Mindstorms robot to maneuver through a cardboard box maze. Despite my robotics experience, the boy who was my partner held on to the computer and barely allowed me to work on the code. I was surprised and didn’t know how to speak up for myself. My teacher must have noticed. He pulled me aside and said I deserved to be in that class as much as my partner and that it’s necessary for me to take up space as a girl in STEM. Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. Supporting them has become my top priority. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. I taught in multiple towns in Massachusetts and noticed significantly fewer girls enrolled in the camp than boys. Growing up, I was no stranger to this reality. It became my mission to ensure the girls were as excited about coding and robots as the boys. I coached the kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. I circled up my students multiple times a day to share their creations and asked everyone questions about what they brought to the circle. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. I was proud to see the kids working in groups, excitedly expanding on each others’ builds. On bustling robotics teams, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice in team discussions. I work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together.

Math is magical! You can use math to understand the world. For example, last year I used math to analyze similarities of muscles DNA in my Coding for Medicine class and studied medical data analysis in Python BioPython library during an ambitious summer program. Math is fun! I can spend hours working on math problems for school and for fun, discussing them with my younger brother and my parents. Math gives me confidence: I love helping friends and younger students understand math and solve problems. On my high school Hackathons club with my team of 3, I won the Second Prize for Space Debris Collection via Satellite Identification Project. I was responsible for developing deep learning algorithms with PyTorch in Google Colab, and math was at the heart of programming my algorithms. We won Wolfram Prize and Top 3 Winners Prize at the international hackathon Vivid Hacks. Our model performs object detection: given an image, it finds bounding boxes [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax] for space debris. Math helped us find the algorithm with the best accuracy and train the winning machine learning model. I love math and know I'll be using my math powers throughout my college studies and beyond!

I'm interested in studying and doing research in computer science and computational neuroscience, so technology will play a central role in my future. I have been taking robotics classes with my mom and her engineering colleagues since I was 8. I used MATLAB and Simulink to program robots. As I grew older, I took Python and Java coding classes and joined robotics teams. I also developed a passion for learning about the brain and how we operate. I want to understand how mental health challenges originate and how to help tackle them. I know technology can help! I want to use data science to understand patients' histories and experiences, and statistical analysis and machine learning / AI techniques to help uncover patterns in the data. I think technology will help find new answers to my questions about the origins of mental health challenges and a deeper understanding of what lifestyle, therapy, and pharmaceutical interventions (and their combinations!) are impactful. In my robotics classes, I have been learning about wearable tech, sensors, and IoT (the Internet of Things). I want to use these technologies to collect data to help alert doctors and patients of symptoms and measure if they are improving. My goal is to use technology to make it easier to try impactful techniques and therapies and develop new ones. Finally, I hope technology can help me make visible and begin to address the deep gender and racial disparities in mental health treatment that exist today. I'm beyond excited to be part of building more equitable mental health tech!

The technology I want to tell you about is robots. I’ve been in geeky communities my entire life. When I was 8, my mom picked me up early from my after-school program every day for two years to join the robotics classes she and her engineering colleagues took at work. I was the only child there. Rushing in, I greeted everyone with a smile, sat in the first row, and intently listened to our teachers. My favorite project was programming Arduino robots to follow lines taped on the ground. When I was 11, I presented at the Boston VR Meetup on the maze game I programmed, again, the only kid in a room of professional engineers. A woman even gave me her business card and offered me a future job at her company! Today, I mentor young girls. They remind me of myself at their age. The summer before my senior year, I worked as the lead counselor at a robotics camp. It became my mission to ensure girls were as excited about robots as boys. I coached kids to be comfortable with making mistakes and asking for help. The small things I did to be equitable helped everyone. Through robotics, I’ve grown to be tenacious and outspoken. Now, I am a talented young woman in STEM. I use my voice and work hard to lift up those around me so we can succeed together. Robots have changed my life and are making the world around us better!!