I am a Native American who grew up on a low income reservation in Arizona. I have the needed discipline and dedication to chase after my dreams. I know that I can work hard and chase after those dreams to ensure that they can become a reality. I am also a first-generation student, so everything going into college will be a new experience for me. I want to make sure that I graduate with my degree to not only make my mom proud but also to use the skills I learn to eventually give back to my community. I chose my degree program, which is Computer Engineering, because with the uprising of AI and how we are moving towards a more digital world, I want to ensure that I can develop technology that is fast, reliable, and cost-efficient for my community. I want to make sure that the technology that I will be developing for them will be easily accessible and comparable to the likes of the bigger cities. I plan on making an impact on my community not only by doing that but also by giving it to the surrounding communities because everyone needs reliable technology. I plan on being a part of the 1.2% of Native Americans who are engineers, not only to get a good career and give back to my community, but also to inspire the younger generation as well. By showing them how much of a positive impact I can make on our reservation and how they can do so too, I want to be a role model for those younger generations. I want to make sure that they also want to be a part of the 1.2% to grow that number and to also try and make a positive change as well. I would also inspire the younger generation by telling them stories of my path and other people's paths that I will get to know so that they will be able to understand that not only is it not an easy path but also a path that can make a positive change on our reservation. I believe that by doing such an important thing, showing the younger generation what sort of positive impact can be made, will inspire them to consider getting into this field of study and eventually make their positive change anywhere else in the world, whether it can be in our reservation or any country in the world.

I am a Native American on the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona. I would say that I have dedication and determination to chase after my goals. I also consider my self a quick and hard learner that can get the job done once I am told how to do the job. People would sometimes consider native americans people who might not make a difference in the world but I want to be one of the people who make a good view on us and can make a positive change. I know that I have the brains to do so but I just need to take action and use those actions to make that positive change. My plan is to go into the electrician trade. I believe that it would help out people tremendously who might suffer with no electricity or people with bad electrical systems. I believe that working really hard in this trade will be beneficial and could make a really good outcome on making a positive change in the community. I have also considered dual trading and also pursuing HVAC as either a backup or a second job. I also see its importance and how it could make a positive change anywhere in the world. I would master my trade by taking every lesson that I get seriously and making sure that I learn the right way. I would ensure that I wouldn't do a half-done job and call it a day because I know how some of these stuff are important to people. I want to make sure that I note everything down either physically or mentally and reenacting them on my own time to make sure that it will be done correctly. I would also take it slow and not rush into anything until every aspect of the trade can be learned so that I can be considered a master of that trade. My plan on giving back to my community would to help the people out. I know that admittedly we are a low-income community and people may not have the best wiring or HVAC. I want to make sure that I won't upcharge them because they need these done for them. I would also use my skills to also teach younger folks who also want to make a positive change and want to learn these trades. By expanding my knowledge to these people and also making sure that my community will get the treatment or upgrades they need, I know that it will result in a positive outcome and will eventually make my community a better place.

I am a Native American from the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona. I value my culture because its beautiful from the ceremonies to the language. I would say that I have discipline and dedication towards working towards my goals because the process in-between and the end product is always worth it to see. An example of this would be my dedication towards losing weight. I was 270 at my heaviest during COVID and through these last 5 years I have been trying to lose it which was slow but has resulted in me losing ~85-90 pounds. I plan on going to college out of state because I believe that the college I am attending will allow me to see opportunities that will benefit me in the future. Especially because it is in Engineering so I know that I will have to work hard if I want to graduate with my degree. I also have the ambition and determination to graduate with my degree because I would then be a first generation graduate and I would love to make my mother proud. Being able to see her happy and being able to graduate with a degree that people consider hard would bring a big smile to my face. With this scholarship, I believe that it would help alleviate the financial burdens that I may be facing with attending a college out of state. While it is the state college, it will still be a hefty sum. I believe that this scholarship will not only help with the financial burden, but also with giving me the hope and support I need to keep going. I also believe that this scholarship will help because it will allow my mother not support the financial burden that I will be facing. She already struggles as is right now getting by paycheck to paycheck and I don't want to stress her out by having her also trying to pay my scholarship as well. As it seems, I care for my mom because she has told me a lot about how she grew up and how tough people treated her. I want to do my part by getting my degree and making sure that she would help as little as possible with paying for my tuition. I would also like to think that this scholarship will help me with my future career goals that I have with this degree. I would be eternally grateful and I would consider this something that helped me with my dream of developing better and more reliable technology that will be accessible not only to my tribe but to the towns around us.

I've considered how my life has been spent as a Native American and as I reflect on it, I feel grateful being a part of this race. Despite my family being more religious rather than traditional, I feel like I've still spent enough times around my culture which I am glad that I was able to. I have also never been racially discriminated which I feel grateful for, as despite constantly shopping in a different town, they've never given us problems and were kind. I also believe that I am the first generation in my family that is slowly healing from the generational trauma that we experience. I would be involved with church a lot growing up but despite that, I still got to experience my culture through my school and my friends. My elementary school would have Indian day where we would dress up traditionally and have dances and experience our tribes crown dancers and singers. This opened my eyes to my culture and started my appreciation for my tribe. While I continued to grow up, I would slowly see more of my culture and my appreciation would grow more, especially in high school. Our high school's indian club would host dances and singers would sing traditional songs during lunch time which was always something that I would appreciate to see. Growing up, I realized that my life wasn't filled with as much abuse or neglect that people would experience. No alcoholism or drug abuse was also available when I was growing up was my first sign that I am growing up in a time of healing. My mother also reflected through her work and learned about generational trauma which allowed her to view life a lot more differently. She became kinder through my upbringing which I believe is her trying to break those chains to ensure I won't have to struggle through that as well. I believe my life has been shaped by these moments in my life and it makes me all the more blessed to be indigenous. I am blessed to have a strong support system in the form of my family. Through celebrations and loss, our family is always there for support and I am grateful that we are strongly connected in that way. As I continue to live my life, I will continue to appreciate and learn more about my culture so that I can show it my appreciation and so that I can be more connected through culture and through language.

I've always been told that I have the ability to dream big and do great things. Though very little of us on our reservation have gone out and done great things, I believe that my dreams are big enough to make a change not only for myself but also for my reservation. I've been involved with wrestling which has taught me drive and discipline which I have continued to use in my day-to-day life. It's helped me to dedicate my goals onto a dream that I have and to make sure that I am not lazy when trying to achieve it. My dream is to make a positive impact in my reservation and the towns surrounding us by giving them better technology. Though some areas are okay with their technology, my dream is to develop and make technology that is fast and strong equivalent to the big cities in our state. I want to make sure that eventually over time, I can also expand to the smaller towns around the world similar to starlink but instead of internet, its load times, reliability, and affordability. I want to ensure that eventually everyone has the opportunity to experience technology that people will be happy with and won't have to worry about payments and it breaking right away. With my studies, I ensure that I will be able to learn as much as I can and also take part in as many clubs I can that will give me the hands on experience that I need to slowly work towards this goal. My career goals as well are to work in a field that is similar to my goal and either use that company to help develop my goals or use the experience to create a startup company to help work towards my goals. Though it is a long goal that will take years to complete, I believe that it is a goal that I believe will make a difference not only to my reservation, but to all the small towns around the world so that they can have reliable technology. I know that technology is constantly evolving and it will make my plan harder, but it also makes me more determined to try and create this plan and see it through for a chance to make a better impact around the world. My studies, my experiences, and my plans are what fuel me to want to get this done and the want to help people through the form of technology all drive me in wanting to make a positive impact.

My career in wrestling wasn't the most successful. I started wrestling during my junior year so as of now, I have only amounted 2 years of experience which isn't like the big names in my state like Kyler Larkin or Sergio Vega. But yet thanks to this sport, I was able to change in such a positive way that I am blessed and eternally grateful for. It taught me different lessons and lifestyle choices that I still use to this day. But it starts before I joined when covid-19 happened. I was too lazy allowing myself to gain weight going as high as 270lbs. I knew about wrestling from my friend that did it in 8th grade saying that I should do it as well. I did do it but it was the toughest thing I did that first day but I knew that I wanted to create something good for myself so I stayed. Thanks to that, I was able to make the best change for myself and my lifestyle. It starts with my weight when it created my character. I was anxious and slightly closed from being overweight, but after I finished my senior season I was at 179 and I felt more confident in myself and being okay with my own image. My lifestyle habits were also changed in the sense that I was able to do stuff I wanted to and putting the discipline in that I would with practice. I also was able to eat more healthier, slowly phasing out foods that I constantly ate allowing me to be unhealthy. I knew how to be more conscious about what I was eating and how I can eat more smarter, tracking the calories and the macros. With my wrestling background, I want to use the discipline that I learned to help keep going as I go into college. I am a first generation student so everything will be new to me. But with the discipline and drive that I developed from wrestling, I want to put my all into making sure that I will be able to get through college and eventually earn my degree making my family proud with this accomplishment. I also want to use the healthy lifestyle to make sure that I can continue to stay fit so that I can use that fitness to benefit myself as I get older and I can also keep learning wrestling to potentially come back and become an assistant coach for my high school.

I have big aspirations that involve my degree because I think that I can use it to help my community, my tribe, my people to create a better town for them. I want to use my degree and my own experience in the business world to either create or collaborate with a company that wants to help my dreams become a reality. I believe that my dream is not one that seems impossible and could be achieved through discipline and hard work. I know that it is also a long plan that will take time for it to be effective but it is worth working towards it. I want to use my degree in Computer Engineering to help construct technology that is both reliable and more cost effective because while we have strong technology in our town, we need technology that is as strong and on equal level to the big city in our state; Phoenix. I want to make sure that this is a plan that can work out so that it can create a positive impact on our town giving it a push for us to become a better town. It's a aspect that may be strange but I believe that this can be beneficial especially for emergency services so that they won't have to worry about any crashes in their technology. Then I also want to use my degree and speaking abilities to then speak to our youth. I want to tell them that they are able to dream big and that they have the ability to also make a change to our tribe in a positive way. This is something that I have talked about with my business teacher at my high school and he agrees that I should talk to the younger kids and explain what I do, what helped me accomplish my degree, and how they have the chance to also dream big as well. I believe that this will positively impact them in a way that allows them to dream bigger. They can dream in a way so that they can think about creating a better change not only for themselves, but for those around them as well like their family or also the tribe as well. I want to influence them and bloom that dream that they have by having the opportunity to speak to them and making them want to chase their dreams and not worry about being afraid of being stuck on our reservation.

I've been told by teachers around me and by my family that I have the ability to make a change in our tribe. I never fully believed myself unsure if I was going to attend college, until my senior year when I started considering it seriously. I believe that by taking my route into engineering; one of the harder degrees to earn, I can eventually turn it all around to help change my tribe and community with the abilities and knowledge that I will gain. Now it isn't a simple quick plan but a long fleshed out system that I am hoping will last us generations and will catch us up in the technologically advanced world. Being a first generation student, I am honestly unsure how it will support me to the fullest extent. But I know that as I progress through college, furthering my knowledge and skills, I will be able to use those resources and skills to slowly make a change. It would first start with the college that I plan on attending which is Penn State. Their alumni system is one of the largest in the United States and with that resource, I might be able to find a job that understands what I want to do and my plans and they might help me out. It's a small start but finding a job thanks to their alumni program would be a big plus to have. The second part about the support from furthering my education would come from the classes and the knowledge that I will learn. While yes it isn't the highest ranked engineering program in the country, it is still a strong program that I can use to support me in helping make my positive impact on my community and my people. The clubs and the classes will give me the knowledge to get through and figure out how to make my tribes technology better and also get a grip on the work load and how I will be able to make it work. I believe that with these in mind, I can set a foundation in slowly making my tribe a better place. I fully believe that with enough discipline and hard work, I will be able to make this positive impact. My education being pushed further will not only benefit me, but my family, my tribe, and maybe even the surrounding tribes. It will help me in making sure that I can do good in a way that will last us a really long time. Some might think that it is barely a small step in that direction, but it is the momentum that I'll need to get my plan started.

I have always wondered what my goals were gonna be after choosing to pursue a career in Computer Engineering, but after much consideration I decided to help out my community. My community is special to me as its where a lot of my friends and family are. It is also a place where I grew up and come to have known really well. I think that I can only give back to it by helping out my community in its tech department. I think to go more in depth on my goal, my community has been a low income place and the technology truthfully is not the most advanced or most reliable. With a Computer Engineering degree, I can help develop software for my community that is both reliable and fast. I can also produce hardware that is long lasting and also up to date. I believe by doing this, not only will my community be more technologically advanced but it will also help out in creating a better future for my community and the people in it. They will not have to worry about slow software that takes a long time to use. They also will not have to worry about slow hardware that is making it difficult to do work and won't shut down or break on them. This long term goal has come into my plan after thinking about it for a long time. Me and my friend wanted to make an impact on our tribe for the long run and we thought about how we may be able to do so. We looked at the majors that we will be pursuing and we thought about how we may make a positive change that won't backfire in a short time. These are also the underlying values that drive both of our long term career goals. We both also considered that if we join a company, then by rising up the ranks to a high position, we might be able to point the company towards our community so that we may begin focusing on our goals. With myself helping out our community by helping its technology and my friend helping by targeting its infrastructure and the way that homes are built. He wants our future homes to be more modern and a place where people can stay safely and protected. Though it is a really hard goal that will take the both of us multiple years of hard work, we both will not give up on trying to make our community, our tribe a better place for the future.

Thinking of the achievements that I have accomplished in my life, it's a little hard to choose one that I am most proud of. But after thinking about it, it was strangely committing to my dream college. I've done larger things that I am just as proud of but something about this one stands out compared to my other personal achievements. Even though I've done things like go to state for my chess team, or graduate high school as a salutatorian, there's just something special about committing to my dream college. My dream college is Pennsylvania State University and I am an Arizona born indigenous person and I was happily accepted there. I chose this as the achievement that I am most proud of because of the opportunities that I might be able to achieve. It's rank and the success that it creates fuels my ambition to become someone great in my community. I want to use that opportunity to eventually give back and make my community, my tribe, a better place. It has impacted my life because I have the opportunity to become the first person in my family to graduate with a degree. It gives me ambition and motivation to try my hardest, to make my dream a reality. Native people in my tribe have done great things, but I want to impact my tribe, I want to create better opportunities for our tribe. It's impacted me by giving me determination for a better future. Compared to my other achievements, I can use my dream school to eventually change my tribe. I also have aspirations to become successful as well from the opportunity of going to my dream school. I have the opportunity to make my mom, my family, and my relatives proud. I don't think that anyone else has such a degree other than my aunt who has a degree that allows her to work in our Indian Health Services (IHS). I can also be up there which I think will impact my future more than it is right now. That is why I believe that this personal achievement is what I am most proud of. I want to succeed and that determination has impacted my life by giving me the mindset to focus on my next goal in life to create a better future. not only for myself, but also for my family and my tribe.

To be blunt and straightforward, I think it's important for me to receive this scholarship as it will help me pay for my tuition for my college. I will use it to lessen the financial burden that I will definitely be dealing with and use it to pursue my education at a deeper level. If this helps lessen the financial burden, I will slowly complete my degree and become a first generation college graduate in my family. This is personally a big deal to me, as I want to make my mother proud and earn my degree as well. I consider this important, because I will utilize this scholarship to ensure that the funds go towards my tuition or other factors like my textbooks, my housing, or resources that I will need like a potential new laptop. Something like a laptop would prove beneficial as I am aware that engineering students require a good laptop to run applications that will be needed to complete assignments. Also, with the financial burden being lowered due to this scholarship, I can focus more on my academics so that I can put my full focus towards my grades to endure that I graduate with good marks. I will also be able to focus and study hard during midterms and finals which will be a giant plus because of this scholarship. I think that it is also important to receive this scholarship as after I get my degree in Computer Engineering, I will use it in the future to give back to my community and give them better technology that will benefit businesses and schools. I think that my community is also an important part of my life and receiving this scholarship will allow me the opportunity to give back to my own community. I understand the importance of giving back and this scholarship will be a good example of giving back to my community in the future, allowing them to have better, easier lives. I think being given this opportunity of receiving this scholarship will be seen as a huge honor and I would make sure not to waste the opportunity to use it for the betterment of my education. I think these are many reasons as to why I think it would be important for me to receive this scholarship. I know I can use it for good and would not use it for anything other than my education.