When the music starts, it catches my ear, and I lose sense of my surroundings. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & … “Fly” by the Spectrum, “Come Fly with Me” by Frank Sinatra, “Maiden Voyage” by Herbie Hancock. When I listen to these songs, my mind becomes immersed and my heart slows down, making me feel warm and grounded. Relieving my stress with the euphonious lines and comforting melodies, I am carried by the music and I am at peace. I first realized my infatuation with music in 8th grade, when I grasped that listening to it provided tranquility to my soul. I remember going to my future high school’s jazz concert and being captivated as I listened to the lead saxophonist in the band. The band’s ability to combine different styles of existing music inspired me, since it was something I never thought was possible at the high school level. This inspired me to use my creative abilities to produce and develop unique sounds when I play the saxophone. I realized that with music, there are endless possibilities. I thought I knew everything about the saxophone, but there was so much more to learn. Eager to discover as much as I could, I would talk to my instructor, Mr. Thompkins, who has been teaching me ever since I started playing in the 4th grade. His guidance helped me see that creating meaningful music starts with understanding the basics and building from there. In my sophomore year, I developed a better understanding of lyrics and motifs of different songs. The lyrics and motifs of a song help me improve my mindset and encourage me to persevere through times of self doubt or mental exhaustion. A huge inspiration to me was Cannonball Adderley, whose soulful playing pioneered jazz music in the 1960s. Seeing how fantastic Adderley was at creating music and reaching a wider audience, I wanted to bring that feeling of comfort, empowerment, and excitement that I feel from jazz to other people. This became a motif throughout my life and pursuits. I wanted to spread jazz music throughout my community, so people would recognize the importance of this meaningful art, the beauty it can add to life, and be inspired to expand music’s effect on the community themselves. This led to activities such as championing collaborative efforts to create music in my school’s jazz combo which has played for various community audiences, ranging from kids at the Old Ellicott City Farmers Market to adults at fundraising events hosted by local charities. Music has given me the ability to positively impact my community in ways that I originally thought were never possible. Having the ability to spread jazz throughout the community is the one thing that is sure to get me out of bed every morning. This music journey has shaped my entire life, increasing my attention to detail and helping me find appreciation in the smallest things, like making someone smile. That is why I spend part of everyday listening, analyzing, practicing, and making music. Creating pieces allows me to express unspoken feelings, and I never want to lose my ability to use this special language to touch other people’s hearts.

Mental health is important to me as a student because it affects how people behave in school. In this day and age, I believe that mental health is now talked about more frequently, but because people don’t know good mental health recovery techniques, when people aren’t feeling well, they use poor recovery techniques and cope negatively. I have been dealing with mental health issues since I was in 7th grade. When I was in 7th grade, during the pandemic, I felt like I had no true purpose in life. I would spend my days not having the urge to go to school, or practice improving my skills as a saxophonist or indulge in any other healthy habits. Those were things that I loved to do before the pandemic. After that unfortunate year in the pandemic, I went back to school to complete 8th grade. At the time, I had lost all the progress and motivation that I had in school and the extracurricular activities I participated in. From there, after being in school for a few days in being in classes like band, english, and history, I wanted to get back into putting my best effort in my performance as a student, so I could set myself up well for high school and spend time improving my performance and effort in extracurricular activities. From 8th grade until the present day, I have spent a lot more time self reflecting on my own life. I chose to self reflect on my own life because I realized that self reflecting is what led to improvement in my own mentality and actions every day. Self reflection also helps young students, like myself, avoid inheriting bad habits that could affect our long term health. Self reflection and my advocacy for awareness led to my involvement in the Teen Advisory Council. I am a member of the Howard County HC DrugFree Teen Advisory Council where I learn how to teach younger students how to avoid drugs and how to practice efficient life skills. As a part of the Teen Advisory Council, I help promote the prevention of drugs and healthy communication habits to other Howard County students. In the 2024 and 2025 sessions of the HC DrugFree LifeSkills , I was an instructional team leader and helped a team of college students instruct classes that were provided to middle school and elementary school students. In these classes, I led by example, providing advice on how students should not use various forms of drugs. In the camp, I also helped disprove common misconceptions about drug and alcohol use in America.

I started paying attention to my mental health once the COVID pandemic happened in 7th grade. During the isolation from normal school and recreational activities created by the pandemic, I had a lot more time to myself to think about what I really wanted to do in life. At the time, I had no idea what I wanted to aim my life towards. I also was extremely demotivated in school, reluctant to show up to classes and frequently oversleeping because I didn’t care about attending school. Honestly, life at that point felt a little meaningless, and I didn’t really want to do anything if it meant that I had nothing to work towards. I felt this way throughout the entire pandemic and I thought that this mentality would never change. Fortunately for me, when I got to the 8th grade, I started to become obsessed with music. I first realized my infatuation with music in 8th grade, when I grasped that listening to it provided tranquility to my soul. I remember going to my future high school’s jazz concert and being captivated as I listened to the lead saxophonist in the band. The band’s ability to combine different styles of existing music inspired me, since it was something I never thought was possible at the high school level. This inspired me to use my creative abilities to produce and develop unique sounds when I play the saxophone. I realized that with music, there are endless possibilities. I thought I knew everything about the saxophone, but there was so much more to learn. Eager to discover as much as I could, I would talk to my instructor, Mr. Thompkins, who has been teaching me ever since I started playing in the 4th grade. His guidance helped me see that creating meaningful music starts with understanding the basics and building from there. In my sophomore year of high school, I developed a better understanding of lyrics and motifs of different songs. The lyrics and motifs of a song help me improve my mindset and encourage me to persevere through times of self doubt or mental exhaustion. A huge inspiration to me was Cannonball Adderley, whose soulful playing pioneered jazz music in the 1960s. Seeing how fantastic Adderley was at creating music and reaching a wider audience, I wanted to bring that feeling of comfort, empowerment, and excitement that I feel from jazz to other people. This became a motif throughout my life and pursuits. I wanted to spread jazz music throughout my community, so people would recognize the importance of this meaningful art, the beauty it can add to life, and be inspired to expand music’s effect on the community themselves. This led to activities such as championing collaborative efforts to create music in my school’s jazz combo which has played for various community audiences, ranging from kids at the Miller library, locals at the Old Ellicott City Farmers Market, to adults at fundraising events like the Smile foundation soirée, hosted by local charities. Music has given me the ability to positively impact my community in ways that I originally thought were never possible. Having the ability to spread jazz throughout the community is the one thing that is sure to get me out of bed every morning. This music journey has shaped my entire life, increasing my attention to detail and helping me find appreciation in the smallest things, like making someone smile. That is why I spend part of everyday listening, analyzing, practicing, and making music. Creating pieces allows me to express unspoken feelings, and I never want to lose my ability to use this special language to touch other people’s hearts. My obsession with music that followed my period of poor mental health has encouraged me to utilize my talent to make others happy and improve their mental health. I realized that performing music to others can simply make someone’s day better. I want to use music to make others happy because it could change someone’s mindset or emotions, which could make their day better. Performing music also enables me to spend time lifting up everyone else in the world and bring everyone in our community together.

I plan to study biomedical engineering at Cornell University in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering. I see engineering as a way to keep challenging myself to think creatively and solve problems that matter. At Cornell Engineering, I will contribute an open mind to every challenge we face. Engineering allows me to use analytical thinking to design real solutions and explore how different academic disciplines connect. I’m especially drawn to biomedical engineering because it combines technology, biology, and design to solve problems that directly improve people’s lives. By learning across fields and approaching challenges from multiple perspectives, I hope to create solutions that make healthcare more effective and accessible. My first language is English, which is very useful due to the fact that I have lived in America since birth. The benefits of being bilingual in a place like America is the fact that you’re able to speak to more people if they speak different languages. Those who cannot speak more than one language limit their chances of speaking to people who speak different languages as their primary language. I’ve studied Spanish for multiple years. I've participated in Spanish classes for multiple years, completing classes from Spanish I to AP Spanish V Language and Culture. I also plan to take Spanish VI as a senior and continue my journey as a Spanish speaker. My year of continuous Spanish study has caused me to enjoy taking various Spanish courses and learning various cultures from Spanish speaking countries. A specific vacation I would mention where studying Spanish was useful is in Puerto Rico. Specifically, when I was traveling in the car with my family. Since I was the only one who knew Spanish, I was able to speak to the driver and ask him about some of the great landmarks that could be seen in Puerto Rico. The challenges of being bilingual include maintaining your ability to be bilingual. Typically, your secondary language that you can speak is the language that you speak less than your primary language. This means that over a period of time, you could lose your ability to understand that secondary language you had learned. Additionally, another challenge of being bilingual is being able to understand and remember very specific phrases in multiple languages. This is because many languages have specific rules for specific words, letters, and phrases. This means that remembering certain phrases and idiomatic expressions in multiple languages will be very difficult.

Being raised in a single parent household has made me heavily rely on my mom, my primary caregiver. When I was a kid, my mom would take my sister and I around to different places. Whether it was my sister’s activities, my activities, my mom’s workplace, or going to a restaurant or a movie. However, one thing that my mom did really well was instill hope into our lives. Hope that things will get better. I started playing saxophone as a kid, and she always told me that I should spend my time doing what I loved to do. After playing saxophone for a while, I realized that I really enjoyed playing the instrument. From that time on, I was inspired to continue to play saxophone and really dig into what I enjoy. This led to me becoming obsessed with improving my musical ability in middle school. I first realized my infatuation with music in 8th grade, when I grasped that listening to it provided tranquility to my soul. I remember going to my future high school’s jazz concert and being captivated as I listened to the lead saxophonist in the band. The band’s ability to combine different styles of existing music inspired me, since it was something I never thought was possible at the high school level. This inspired me to use my creative abilities to produce and develop unique sounds when I play the saxophone. I realized that with music, there are endless possibilities. I thought I knew everything about the saxophone, but there was so much more to learn. Eager to discover as much as I could, I would talk to my instructor, Mr. Thompkins, who has been teaching me ever since I started playing in the 4th grade. His guidance helped me see that creating meaningful music starts with understanding the basics and building from there. A huge inspiration to me was Cannonball Adderley, whose soulful playing pioneered jazz music in the 1960s. Seeing how fantastic Adderley was at creating music and reaching a wider audience, I wanted to bring that feeling of comfort, empowerment, and excitement that I feel from jazz to other people. This became a motif throughout my life and pursuits. I wanted to spread jazz music throughout my community, so people would recognize the importance of this meaningful art, the beauty it can add to life, and be inspired to expand music’s effect on the community themselves. This led to activities such as championing collaborative efforts to create music in my school’s jazz combo which has played for various community audiences, ranging from kids at the Old Ellicott City Farmers Market to adults at fundraising events hosted by local charities. Music has given me the ability to positively impact my community in ways that I originally thought were never possible. Having the ability to spread jazz throughout the community is the one thing that is sure to get me out of bed every morning. This music journey has shaped my entire life, increasing my attention to detail and helping me find appreciation in the smallest things, like making someone smile. That is why I spend part of everyday listening, analyzing, practicing, and making music. Creating pieces allows me to express unspoken feelings, and I never want to lose my ability to use this special language to touch other people’s hearts. I plan to continue to spread my love for jazz wherever I go for the rest of my life.

When I was young, I built a LEGO model of the International Space Station. What was most rewarding was not finishing it, but figuring out how to create and scale the size of the structure so it would fit within the 51cm by 41cm surface. That project showed me how much I enjoy creating things and solving problems with logic and precision. Since then, I approach everything I do with the same mindset. Whether it’s working through difficult math problems, planning a game strategy, or competing in sports, I’m constantly thinking, “How can I fix, solve, or improve this situation?” That process of analyzing and adjusting until something works better is what excites me the most. I see engineering as a way to keep challenging myself to think creatively and solve problems that matter. It allows me to use analytical thinking to design real solutions and explore how different academic disciplines connect. I’m especially drawn to biomedical engineering because it combines technology, biology, and design to solve problems that directly improve people’s lives. By learning across fields and approaching challenges from multiple perspectives, I hope to create solutions that make healthcare more effective and accessible. I am excited that Cornell Engineering gives me early exposure to biomedical imaging and the chance to understand the human body through physics and computation. At the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, the biomedical instrumentation and imaging concentration connects directly with my goal of advancing diagnostic imaging techniques by giving me the foundation to design better imaging systems that could potentially improve care provided by clinicians. I am interested in researching how AI can enhance tools like MRIs and ultrasound devices to detect diseases more accurately and efficiently. I am drawn to the idea that integrating artificial intelligence into medicine may help identify symptoms earlier than a human could, which may save a life. Working with students in the Undergraduate Research Program would allow me to apply what I learn in the curriculum to dive into AI integration in biomedical imaging. This fits my hands-on learning style and interest in testing ideas through real-world experimentation. Cornell’s collaborative, hands-on engineering culture reflects exactly how I learn best — by combining computation, creativity, and innovation. It’s the place where my curiosity about imaging and AI can grow into solutions that improve how we understand and care for the human body. As an African American, I’d be a part of the 5.6 percent of African Americans that study biomedical engineering.

Numbers, puzzles and complex thinking! These are the things that come to mind when I think of mathematics. Mathematics can be defined by many things to many people, but to me, it's an outlet for numbers to be used for human applications through methods. As a huge advocate for math, I've seen that its creation has advanced human life. I've been a huge fan of math since I was in elementary school. I would always strive to finish the math problems teachers gave me. I believed that math was a great way for people to practice their analytical thinking. My heart raced any time someone asked me how to solve a problem and I was tasked with helping them with solving it. I continued to indulge in math through middle school, with every new challenge encouraging me to learn about more advanced topics with mathematics. My young years of doing math fostered my continued interest in providing math help to others in high school. This led to me joining the National math Honor Society, since I wanted to create an impact on our school. The National Math Honor Society community is a place where I bond with people over debating functions and theorems, while learning from experienced students who push me to grow as a leader. I have cherished my time in this honor society since joining my sophomore year. My special affinity for this club started with collecting tickets for a Pi Day raffle, which then fostered my participation in other activities like the schoolwide math competition and writing math teacher appreciation cards. As a member, I also tutored students in Calculus AB and Statistics. Wanting to make a bigger impact in our community and to connect people utilizing math, I strived to become president of the society. As president, I organized new events to keep members engaged. These ranged from AP and midterm review sessions to an AP math prep-book donation drive for students who couldn’t afford prep materials. Holding all of these events was very enlightening for me, as I saw what a positive impact it could have on other students, improving their understanding of core concepts. These experiences with math help me understand that math isn’t only about numbers, but it’s a concept that can help transform the people, allowing them to build their creativity and analytical thinking skills.

Being raised in a single parent household has made me heavily rely on my mom, my primary caregiver. When I was a kid, my mom would take my sister and I around to different places. Whether it was my sister’s activities, my activities, my mom’s workplace, or going to a restaurant or a movie. However, one thing that my mom did really well was instill hope into our lives. Hope that things will get better. I started playing saxophone as a kid, and she always told me that I should spend my time doing what I loved to do. After playing saxophone for a while, I realized that I really enjoyed playing the instrument. From that time on, I was inspired to continue to play saxophone and really dig into what I enjoy. This led to me becoming obsessed with improving my musical ability in middle school. I first realized my infatuation with music in 8th grade, when I grasped that listening to it provided tranquility to my soul. I remember going to my future high school’s jazz concert and being captivated as I listened to the lead saxophonist in the band. The band’s ability to combine different styles of existing music inspired me, since it was something I never thought was possible at the high school level. This inspired me to use my creative abilities to produce and develop unique sounds when I play the saxophone. I realized that with music, there are endless possibilities. I thought I knew everything about the saxophone, but there was so much more to learn. Eager to discover as much as I could, I would talk to my instructor, Mr. Thompkins, who has been teaching me ever since I started playing in the 4th grade. His guidance helped me see that creating meaningful music starts with understanding the basics and building from there. A huge inspiration to me was Cannonball Adderley, whose soulful playing pioneered jazz music in the 1960s. Seeing how fantastic Adderley was at creating music and reaching a wider audience, I wanted to bring that feeling of comfort, empowerment, and excitement that I feel from jazz to other people. This became a motif throughout my life and pursuits. I wanted to spread jazz music throughout my community, so people would recognize the importance of this meaningful art, the beauty it can add to life, and be inspired to expand music’s effect on the community themselves. This led to activities such as championing collaborative efforts to create music in my school’s jazz combo which has played for various community audiences, ranging from kids at the Old Ellicott City Farmers Market to adults at fundraising events hosted by local charities. Music has given me the ability to positively impact my community in ways that I originally thought were never possible. Having the ability to spread jazz throughout the community is the one thing that is sure to get me out of bed every morning. This music journey has shaped my entire life, increasing my attention to detail and helping me find appreciation in the smallest things, like making someone smile. That is why I spend part of everyday listening, analyzing, practicing, and making music. Creating pieces allows me to express unspoken feelings, and I never want to lose my ability to use this special language to touch other people’s hearts. I plan to continue to spread my love for jazz wherever I go for the rest of my life.

A high school teacher that influenced me was my calculus teacher, Mrs. Roberts. I’ve had many good teachers in high school, but she instilled the idea of learning in the classroom, with the purpose of truly understanding concepts. The year before, I took precalculus, and I felt like not only did I not enjoy the class and understand the concepts that were being taught. That is why I wanted to spend my year of Calculus AB truly learning about what the concepts were. I learned that this wouldn't be a problem as Calculus AB was about real world application. Mrs. Roberts taught us that calculus AB was filled with many new concepts that always sparked my interests. The applications of derivatives and integrals to solve various problems was something I was extremely unfamiliar with. However, Mrs. Roberts’ enthusiasm was something that kept me interested throughout the entire class period. Watching her teach about these concepts was fascinating because she would express her excitement about teaching us every day. Every time I was tired or felt like giving up, I would listen to her lecture and immediately feel this urge to continue working to learn each and every concept every single day. What impressed me about Mrs. Roberts the most was her outlook on life. Her advice that she would give us is something that I carried all throughout high school. She once told us about her life as a student in high school, and how she was second in her class. In order to earn the second position in her class, she took all AP classes, and took classes like Health outside of school. She prioritized completing classes and getting good grades over enjoying high school with her friends. She claimed that she didn’t have that good of a work life balance. She said to us that it’s important to have a good work life balance in high school, so that you don’t regret not enjoying your life as a kid. Whenever we finished a test, she would tell us , “No homework, enjoy your weekend, and please spend this time just to chill!” She would always encourage us to enjoy our lives after working through long and hard days of math. Her stories and lessons remind me that you should reward yourself for the hard work and effort that you put into accomplishing goals. In addition to her enthusiasm for math and advice she provided, she was also completely transparent with her thoughts about the board of education, our school environment, and about things in general. That level of transparency helped me and other students build trust in her as a person. Before I had Mrs. Roberts as a teacher, I saw getting grades as the only good thing you could get out of school because that could set you up for acceptance into post secondary institutions. However, Mrs. Roberts helped me realize that school can help you build relationships with teachers and learn concepts that can be applied to better your personal development. I think that being in calculus with Mrs. Roberts helped me realize that the classes that I take in school are there to help me learn various concepts. Her influence as a teacher has helped me have a good work life balance and enthusiasm for school subjects, which is something I will keep throughout all my years in school.

Calculus is important in the field of STEM because it is used in many careers to solve problems and to complete various projects. Without the calculus in the world, people wouldn’t be able to learn concepts such as angular momentum, differential rate laws, or series. Calculus is the glue that allows different scientific concepts to be understood at a high level, allowing people to excel in STEM. Calculus is the gateway of knowledge that needs to be mastered in order to get a better understanding of more advanced concepts in various branches of engineering. Calculus is the subject that harmonizes with physics, which is known as the real world application of calculus. In physics, it is imperative to use your knowledge of calculus to calculate various characteristics of different materials. Calculus can be important in solving different problems that integrate its concepts. Taylor series are used in engineering in more advanced engineering calculations. Additionally, calculus is used in the creation of various machine learning sets when collecting data. Calculus is used in deciphering lots of problems with real world applications, which helps build analytical thinking and problem solving. With calculus, you become exposed to more complex problems involving derivatives, integrals, area, optimization, and rates. Additionally, you learn about polar areas, series, and vectors. Vectors are a very important concept that can be used alongside critical thinking skills in creating models for networks. Vectors, alongside numerical values, are used to define sets of data when using artificial intelligence as a means to identify various characteristics. A series or integral can be used to notate the area of a material or a body. Lastly, calculus is what sharpens most student’s critical thinking skills. A high school teacher that influenced me was my calculus teacher, Mrs. Roberts. I have been fortunate to have many good teachers in high school, but she instilled the idea of learning in the classroom, with the purpose of truly understanding concepts. The year before, I took precalculus, and not only did I not enjoy the class, I did not fully understand the practical applications of the concepts that were being taught. That is why I wanted to spend my year of Calculus AB truly deciphering and understanding the concepts I was introduced to. I learned that this wouldn’t be a problem as Calculus AB was all about real world applications. Calculus AB opens a whole new world of problem solving and creativity in STEM that allows people to pursue many career paths or to solve various world problems.

When I was young, I built a LEGO model of the International Space Station. What was most rewarding was not finishing it, but figuring out how to create and scale the size of the structure so it would fit within the 51cm by 41cm surface. That project showed me how much I enjoy creating things and solving problems with logic and precision. Since then, I approach everything I do with the same mindset. Whether it’s working through difficult math problems, planning a game strategy, or competing in sports, I’m constantly thinking, “How can I fix, solve, or improve this situation?” That process of analyzing and adjusting until something works better is what excites me the most. I see engineering as a way to keep challenging myself to think creatively and solve problems that matter. It allows me to use analytical thinking to design real solutions and explore how different academic disciplines connect. I’m especially drawn to biomedical engineering because it combines technology, biology, and design to solve problems that directly improve people’s lives. By learning across fields and approaching challenges from multiple perspectives, I hope to create solutions that make healthcare more effective and accessible. The middle school Science Olympiad teams I coached struggled because they couldn’t find reliable practice resources, which made it even harder for them to learn unfamiliar material required for each event. As a competitor myself, I understood how overwhelming that could be, so I used crew, an Agentic AI framework, to build a tool that pulls data from past rule sets to create event-specific practice tests. After refining the system, it could generate a full 50-question test with multiple formats like multiple choice, true/false, and short answer in just minutes. Giving students quick access to high quality study materials made studying less overwhelming and helped them feel more ready for competition day. This project excited me because it showed me how engineering lets me blend creativity with community impact, which is the kind of work I want to continue. Lastly, wanting to make a bigger impact in our community and to connect people utilizing math through the Honor Society, I strived to become president of the society. As president, I organized new events to keep members engaged. These ranged from AP and midterm review sessions to an AP math prep-book donation drive for students who couldn’t afford prep materials. Holding all of these events was very enlightening for me, as I saw what a positive impact it could have on other students, improving their understanding of core concepts. I utilized my zeal for assisting math students beyond the confines of the honor society and became a math lab assistant, tutoring geometry students during the school day. This honor society community has helped me become a mentor and a person whom others can collaborate with to build their confidence and excitement in math.

The day I heard that my system was being used to create practice tests that Science Olympiad students could use as they studied and prepared for competition was exhilarating. My heart was racing and a smile appeared across my face, as I understood the positive impact my system would have on these students. Our middle school Science Olympiad teams struggled because they couldn’t find reliable practice resources, which made it harder for them to learn unfamiliar material required for each event. This was a problem that I decided I would attempt to tackle with my mentor as a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. As a competitor myself, I understood how overwhelming and challenging it could be to attempt to learn the material required to prepare for different Science Olympiad events. As a researcher, I used crew, an Agentic AI framework, to build a tool that pulls data from past rule sets to create event-specific practice tests. I originally created four different types of the same tool to test which tool would be the best at creating high quality 10-question practice tests. From those four systems, I created a more advanced tool that can generate bigger practice tests. After refining and testing the more advanced system, it could generate a full 50-question test with multiple formats like multiple choice, true/false, and short answer in just a few minutes. Giving students quick access to high quality study materials made studying less overwhelming and helped them feel more ready for competition day. This project excited me because it demonstrated how engineering allows me to blend creativity with community impact. From tackling this challenge, I learned that the challenges you overcome as a leader can benefit a community of people that share the same problems that you have. Additionally, I learned that overcoming challenges related to STEM comes with lots of troubleshooting and testing. I also discovered that having patience allows one to effectively solve problems. My patience, perseverance, and initiative helped me solve this problem, help others, and make a difference in my community. If I had the money and resources to solve a problem, I would create a neutral network that could detect symptoms of glaucoma. The creation of the neutral network would be done by creating the code for the system. The initial portions of the code would involve training the network to be able to identify symptoms of glaucoma through providing pictures of symptoms to the network. Then after training the neutral network, you can build the code to create the neutral network. After creating the network, it would be tested to figure out how to improve its quality and ability to identify symptoms. Then after testing the network, the final product can be created.

The day I heard that my system was being used to create practice tests that Science Olympiad students could use as they studied and prepared for competition was exhilarating. My heart was racing and a smile appeared across my face, as I understood the positive impact my system would have on these students. Our middle school Science Olympiad teams struggled because they couldn’t find reliable practice resources, which made it harder for them to learn unfamiliar material required for each event. This was a problem that I decided I would attempt to tackle with my mentor as a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. As a competitor myself, I understood how overwhelming and challenging it could be to attempt to learn the material required to prepare for different Science Olympiad events. As a researcher, I used crew, an Agentic AI framework, to build a tool that pulls data from past rule sets to create event-specific practice tests. I originally created four different types of the same tool to test which tool would be the best at creating high quality 10-question practice tests. From those four systems, I created a more advanced tool that can generate bigger practice tests. After refining and testing the more advanced system, it could generate a full 50-question test with multiple formats like multiple choice, true/false, and short answer in just a few minutes. Giving students quick access to high quality study materials made studying less overwhelming and helped them feel more ready for competition day. This project excited me because it demonstrated how engineering allows me to blend creativity with community impact. From tackling this challenge, I learned that the challenges you overcome as a leader can benefit a community of people that share the same problems that you have. Additionally, I learned that overcoming challenges related to STEM comes with lots of troubleshooting and testing. I also discovered that having patience allows one to effectively solve problems. My patience, perseverance, and initiative helped me solve this problem, help others, and make a difference in my community.

The National Math Honor Society community is a place where I bond with people over debating functions and theorems, while learning from experienced students who push me to grow as a leader. I have cherished my time in this honor society since joining my sophomore year. My special affinity for this club started with collecting tickets for a Pi Day raffle, which then fostered my participation in other activities like the schoolwide math competition and writing math teacher appreciation cards. As a member, I also tutored students in Calculus AB and Statistics. By connecting with students like Juho Bay, who loved discussing logarithm problems, and Alexander Yang, who dissected the uniqueness of each math class, I had robust conversations which helped me realize the enthusiasm I had for math, and how numbers can unite people. Wanting to make a bigger impact in our community and to connect people utilizing math, I strived to become president of the society. As president, I organized new events to keep members engaged. These ranged from AP and midterm review sessions to an AP math prep-book donation drive for students who couldn’t afford prep materials. Holding all of these events was very enlightening for me, as I saw what a positive impact it could have on other students, improving their understanding of core concepts. I utilized my zeal for assisting math students beyond the confines of the honor society and become a math lab assistant, tutoring geometry students during the school day. This community has helped me become a mentor and a person whom others can collaborate with to build their confidence and excitement in math. My internship at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory challenged me to think like a problem-solver. I was introduced to Agentic AI and applied it to improve a middle school Science Olympiad challenge: teams struggled with complex scheduling and scoring systems. I combined AI models with data from past competitions and tested different approaches until I developed a tool that streamlined the process, easing test preparation for students. Experiencing how an unfamiliar technology could be made into a practical solution was exciting. It strengthened my fascination with engineering and reaffirmed how much I love working through the creative design process. Volunteering with Grassroots, I worked with various children, playing games and reading books to them. There, I met Brandon, a student who preferred playing with his devices to playing with others. Every week, I encouraged him to put down his devices and participate in group activities. By the end, he was mostly interacting with others and forgot about his computer. Seeing him change felt like an accomplishment because I hadn’t realized the positive influence I could have on others. This taught me that patient leaders can create meaningful change and that small efforts can make a significant impact.