I grew up in a single parent household so my mother was the one who worked her tail off to make sure that she was able to provide for me and my sisters. Sometimes, those moments were hard where we would have to budget so that we were able to live at least live comfortably at the bare minimum. There were times where we would have to search around and ask people if we can use their food stamps with the promise of paying them back when my mom got paid. I feel like not only has that background shaped how I view the world but it also made me resilient in a sense. I don't judge or critique anyone for what they've done because I don't know what situation they might have gone through. I believe that it has also shaped my values by allowing me to be very respectful to anyone around me. I don't disrespect people nor do I judge them in any way. Despite the fact that we grew up in a low-income household, my mother always reminded us to me respectful and kind to those around us because it was the right thing, even when someone didn't treat us kindly, she would tell us that we shouldn't disrespect them and be kind. Growing up in a low-income household has also allowed me to realize some of the goals that I want to achieve in the future. It has allowed me to see how some our town lives as a sort of low-income town and the struggles that come along with it. There would be people posting online about their household struggles and they usually were dealing with how they don't have the money to eat food or that their utilities shut off cause they weren't able to pay for it. My goals are still in the works but I want to work with organizations, companies, and I want to use my degree in Mechanical Engineering to help out my town and other low-income communities in any way possible. I want to ensure that they are able to be safe, be taken cared of, and protected. Helping out people so that they can live better is a high priority for my future goals and I am not 100% sure if Mechanical Engineering by itself can get me to that goal but I want to try my hardest to help out people who were in similar situations like myself growing up.stu

I believe that I have always been interested in building or creating things ever since I was a kid. Every time my mom wanted me to fix something, I would research how to fix it or try it out all on my own. If she had a question about a machine, I would look it up and understand it the best that I could and then explain it to her. Even now, especially when I try to fix my car, I try to understand what the part does and if I can replace it all on my own. The more I go through college, the more that I believe that I have the opportunity to make a difference not only within my community but maybe within the country. But the kind of impact I want to make are to make a positive change within my tribe. I want to build something that would help them out, something that will make people's lives easier. I am still brainstorming that idea but some drafts are like helping with projects. one example is that our tribe is trying to build a dam but they are still trying to hire some engineers. I want to help out with that and then go bigger. My aspirations are to become either an automation engineer or an R&D engineer. They spend their time doing research on how to develop new technologies, products, or improve upon existing ones. I want to use my future research to help better the lives of my community before I begin to slowly expand to other tribes and other small communities. Some adversities I have overcome in my life have been a bit small but they have left their mark and some that I still struggle with to this day. My mental health has been a large one because I believed that I couldn't amount to anything with my future and that I would be stuck doing nothing of value. It almost led to me not going to college but my family, my friends, and those who I would consider support helped me overcome my mental state and made me think in a more positive light. Then the other one is finance, which is what me and my family struggle with. My mother is a hard worker but she works herself to exhaustion to make sure that me and my siblings can have a roof and food in front of us. But she is very adamant on me getting my degree that she works harder to make sure that she can also help me out on paying for my tuition. I also don't want to take out any loans that would give me debt to pay so our financial situation is a battle that we are still fighting.

In the United States, it is reported that 16.8% of Native American students have graduated with a Bachelor's degree. But furthermore, only 0.4% will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in the engineering field. Being a first-generation student is not just a title to say about a student that has had no collegiate graduates but a generational change that is being made that will impact the family forever. Sometimes its a lonely treacherous path that you must learn to navigate by yourself, but its also a path that can be used to guide others. Sometimes it can also be both a burden and a goal to hold the weight of your family's expectations and dreams. I felt like I suffered quietly having to learn all of these new things, processes, and situations with college while not trying to scare my mother who was supporting me all by myself. I felt ashamed as my close friend was being buried while I was thousands of miles away. Having to make decisions that were unclear if they would help me or not, while peers around me had family that had help from their family and would pay for their tuition no problem. I was resilient and learned from each mistake, experience, and situation so that I would have a better understanding in the future. Resilience was a big part that helped me overcome every problem that I had faced. But I believe that this scholarship would help me give back not only to my mother and my family, but also to my community and be an advocate and a voice for the younger generation. This scholarship will lessen the financial burden that weighs heavily on my shoulders so that I can focus more on my studies so that I can make this a reality. This scholarship will also help in my dream of creating a machine, or an idea that will leave a positive impact not only for my reservation but for every community surrounding us and even in the world. My dreams are as I have mentioned to build something that will change not only my reservation in a positive way but the world. But I also want to be a voice for the younger generation, because our youth are important and it seems like they don't have a proper direction. I want to tell them that their dreams are possible and they can do what they set their mind to. I want to ensure they can also become a voice for our youth as well. My mother and my passion for impact drive me the most. Furthermore as well, this scholarship would be fuel for my goals, and would ensure that we are seen, and we are being cheered for as well to continue our education and sharing a part of our goals as well. It will also strengthen the foundation to help students continue their journeys and breaking a cycle to create a better environment for our family and their futures.

I know that people have chosen to pursue a degree in STEM because they want to be a great inventor, save lives, create a positive impact on the world, or because they have had influences like TV/games to help them. I also have that aspiration but it wasn't like that in the beginning. In high school during my junior year, my mom told me to go to college and at first I was reluctant to do so but I wanted her to stop nagging me about it. I tried to do something simple at first like filmography but then she told me to do something else that would help me get me a good job. I looked in the engineering field because of the money they make and that's what I chose. I was in a rough mental patch and I didn't put much thought into it other than engineers made a lot of money and I thought that I was decent enough at math. But as I finished my first academic year, that idea has transformed and changed into a new purpose that I believe that I am happy with. I want to build something that is cost efficient and will have an impact not only for my people in my reservation but also for other communities spreading worldwide. I plan to have an impact by looking at the problems that we may face in our communities. I want to look at them, brainstorm how I can create a solution to fix them but either permanently or long term. I also want to ensure that we can solve these problems in such a way that won't have a negative impact on the environment or in the community. The other way that I have thought about having an impact in the STEM field as a Native American is being a strong advocate and creating potential solutions to problems that we are facing in this field but primarily in the Engineering field. This helps because my long term career goals are to become an automation or R&D engineer which is filled with engineers who are testing, researching, and building machines that have a purpose and will lead to a positive impact in the world. Like currently despite the fact I don't have the experience just yet, I have ideas that involve machines that can adapt to such events like human hesitation. But I believe that not just myself, but everyone that is in the STEM field will also leave an impact in the field.

When I set goals for myself, I try to take it literal so that I am actually in that position by the time that I said, but in ten years I want to be an entrepreneur with my own firm, building/leading projects that will not only be beneficial to the people but will also have a positive impact. The current steps right now are to continue to keep going through college, getting my experience and knowledge up as much as possible, and getting as many internships as possible so that I am able to get the right experience within the job market. Then post-graduation I will use my degree in Mechanical Engineering to work at a local firm in the state or closer to home and rise up the ranks. I want to use my time at that firm to understand the market even further, look at any potential problems that I will notice and write all of them down for my own firm. Then I will go to another bigger, more well known firm and rise up the corporate ladder at that firm as well and understand what is done, the problems they face, and write them down as well. Then I will look at the problems that I have noticed and begin planning on how they can be solved and how could I as a future leader fix them. I will also make as many connections that I can that will benefit me in helping me build my own firm. I will make sure that they are seniors in the industry or colleagues that I know will be valuable connections in the future. I will then use my experience over the years to start looking at building my own firm at every aspect. How I will build my mission and vision statement, how I will build a good work flow and work environment, and how I can create a company that will have an impact not just in the United States but also worldwide. Something as big and ambitious as this dream will be a really big task to complete within ten years but I believe not only with my experience in the engineering field but also the business management field that I believe that this plan/vision will be doable. I believe that my vision is well planned out and while it is not fully detailed, can be done with the right mindset.

Native Americans make up a small percentage not only of college graduates but also in the engineering field. I'm seeking a second chance at higher education for a number of reasons; I want to become a Mechanical Engineer and solve some problems in my community and other communities. I want to make my family proud and become the first person in my family to graduate with a degree. I also want to show that I can do this and make myself proud. I believe that my support or my family play an extremely large role in motivating me to pursue my academic and career goals. I also believe that I motivate myself despite also being my biggest hater. I definitely have my ups and downs but when I motivate myself, I push myself harder than anyone else and I am able to move forward with my head lifted really high. My family and my friends are also amazing at motivating me when I tell them that I feel like I can't do it or when they notice I may be struggling and help me. They motivate me in the sense that I want to show them that their words have meaning and I don't want to disappoint them. I plan to succeed this time around by putting more thought and planning into what I want to do, how I will commit to that plan, and make sure I get the best results out of them. I know that its really not an easy thing but that won't stop me from facing all of the classes and challenges head-on. I also know that I have a good support group and I know that I can receive help whenever it feels too tough or overwhelming. I also have done a lot of studying on how to study for these classes that I will be taking in this upcoming semester so I feel as though I will be a bit more prepared. The last thing that I planned to help me succeed is having a more positive mindset instead of a pessimistic one that effected me heavily the last time. My long term academic goals are to graduate with my Master's degree but I am also willing to take it as far as my PhD. In terms of my career goals, I have aspirations to become an automation or an R&D engineer and work on new products/items that will benefit people, be both cost and material efficient, and will have a worldwide impact. I believe that by receiving this scholarship, it will lessen the financial burden that is placed heavily on my shoulders and will allow me to focus a lot more on my studies so that I can get good grades and be able to go for my academic goals. It will also give me to help pay for things like my books which will help me grasp the content and be used as stepping stones for ideas that I can create in the future. I really hope that I will be able to build something that will benefit my community in such a way that is community-changing in a positive way. There are a few problems that I have in mind to potentially fix but I want to use the invention/building to not only help my community but to spread as far as I can and help those worldwide.

I have a sense of what my computer science goals are: I want to understand the fundamentals of AI, how to code and how it's heavily implemented with AI, then use it in a similar sense to the Ryzen AI 9 chip. Going in depth, I want to use what the AI does in the chip like, handling the AI features faster whilst using less drainage on the battery compared to the CPU/GPU. I want it to be able to continue using it's tools like editing, writing, helping, etc, while also making some changes to the AI. I want the AI to watch over the computer/laptop when it notices something that isn't working as it should be. It's going to essentially do a maintenance check on the computer every time it turns on and it will let the computer know to bring it up as a notification. It will mainly do it with components that are able to be detected while making sure they work properly. Then, my non-computer science goals are to understand how a computer runs, the best materials and what can help the computer function for a long time. I want to develop a computer that is sturdy and will be used for longevity while also being reliable and affordable more towards lower income communities. I want to ensure that these communities won't fall behind technologically and they won't be buying computers/laptops that aren't as good as other PC's. I want to ensure they won't have to worry about the PC dying/breaking on them as long as they take good care of it. I want to also learn exactly how long it takes to get these materials, how I can use a team to assemble the PC to the way that I envision, and how I can get it marketed to these communities to show that I am legit and I want this for them. I might combine these goals in the future by creating a computer like no other and it will focus on care and quality. They almost go hand in hand as they both deal with computers so I am sure a lot of the ideas overlap heavily over each other. I will work hard with a team to make sure that both goals can come to life and ensure that the low income communities not only have a computer that is reliable and affordable, but fitted with a chip that maybe isn't the strongest but will be fitted with an AI chip that will ensure that it's maintenance is always to its best and will let the user know if there is any problems. It will be a long strenuous goal but I believe that it can come to light.

Everyone has the experiences that shape how they live life, how they interact with the people around them, or how they use it as their fuel to either inspire others or keep moving forward. One moment where I have faced adversity was during my academic years. It was a tough semester and in the middle of it, I felt like I wasn't performing at the highest of my ability and it began heavily affecting my mental state and I began doubting myself. It was a tough period of time and it took a while for me to get out of that headspace, but afterwards it helped and it turned into fuel that inspires me and pushes me academically. During this period of time, there was definitely a lot of stress that starting accumulating and began overwhelming me more than I could've imagined. In the background, not only am I a student, I am a first-generation student and my mother has high expectations for me to succeed and for me to get A's in all of my classes that semester. It added weight on my shoulders and I didn't want to disappoint her but it is also engineering so it's also hard to get good grades sometimes. But also, I know I can do adequately well but my exams weren't showing that and it was a large blow to my mental state. It felt like I wasn't trying hard enough, I wasn't good enough to be in this major, and I am a failure of a student that won't succeed. It wasn't a hard time but it was also a hard thing to overcome. I had to really step back from my studies and everything that I was doing to do a check-in with myself. I had to reaffirm myself and I had to start looking at the bright-side while enjoying my environment instead. It was also tough because I didn't share what I was going through with any of my peers so it was all me helping myself. Then after a bit of doing that, I started taking a different approach in my studies which I was happy with and I started feeling better about myself. It definitely shaped me into a better student and it made me happier with myself. Overcoming that adversity made me feel more confident and when something doesn't go good right away, I won't panic, but I'll instead keep trying harder for better results. If anyone is going through similar circumstances then my advice for them would be: Don't let your worse moments define who you are. You might have expectations,a bad quiz/exam, or a bad week but they aren't going to instantly define you as a person or as who you will be. Use them as the stepping stones, or as fuel for your own fire. Even when it's hard, the fact that you are still here or still moving forward is an example that you are stronger/smarter than you expect. There's always rocky moments in the ride, but that doesn't mean that its a bad ride, it's just a bad moment that will smooth out.

I have undermined my abilities but peers, teachers, and family have always told me that I can reach great heights. I decided to listen to them and go to college to pursue my higher education. I want to earn my degree not only for myself or to make them happy, but also because I want to be my family's first engineer and my family's first college graduate. I believe what makes me unique is my thirst for information. People always learn or want to learn, but I want to learn as much as possible so that I am able to complete my post graduate goals. I think another one would be, that I am a Native American in the Computer Science field which is roughly 0.4% so I want to be in that percentage. I also love to travel as I am going to college in the East Coast in Pennsylvania and I come from Arizona. I love taking in the new sights and seeing all the different landscapes. While I haven't been out of the United States much, I have traveled to Japan as well. The sights, the nature, and the culture are all rich and it makes me want to travel more. Even at my college campus, I like to venture around the town that its in and look at all the different buildings they have and also look at Lake Erie, which my campus is near. In terms of the scholarship funds, I would like to use them towards my tuition and help ease the financial burden that I have. Admittedly, coming from a low income community makes it hard to pay for college and I refuse to take out any loans, so these funds would help ease those burdens. I would be able to focus more on my studies without the worry of paying my tuition in time before its too late. I also believe that with the help of these scholarship funds, it is like I am entrusted to keep working hard and it will give me determination to do the best that I can in my studies to not let them down. I also believe that they will also help me pay for any miscellaneous fee that the university may give me or any textbooks that I will need to purchase for my classes. I would not use the scholarship funds for slacking around and I would make sure to always work hard.

I am a Native American that comes from the White Mountain Apache Tribe coming from Arizona. I am attending college across the country in the east coast to pursue my degree in Computer Engineering. I chose this degree program because originally, I was looking at different engineering fields and I thought this was one that I might enjoy. Then, as I continued to do my research and even attend college, my views shifted and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do in this field. I wanted to make an impact in my community and its the goal that I will be trying to complete. But in terms of making an impact in my community, I know my exact plan to make an impact. First, our community is kinda behind in technology and my plans surround that field. I want to essentially develop computers, CPU's, microprocessors that are capable of running more efficiently and more smoothly than the slow janky computers that my community uses. I want it to be at least a generation behind the hardware that the big cities use, then I want to sell it to my community at a price that I know they can mass purchase. This will help them catch up and they won't be worried about the slow computers that their companies use. Based on research and data that I have done, the percentage of engineers that are Native Americans is roughly 0.1-0.2% in the United States. In terms of Computer Engineers, Native Americans make up roughly 0.5% of the population in the United States. Despite these small percentages, it doesn't discourage me and it makes me want to try harder to be the best I can to succeed in my field. I know that I can do different things to try and inspire the next generation but nothing has come into fruition yet. I know that I am collaborating with my good friends that was my teacher in high school and we will be setting up something so that I can come in and tell them about my experiences with college. I want to use these experiences to inspire the students and even the seniors that are about to graduate that they have the ability to dream big and go to college. I will even tell them the projects and fun things that I've done as a computer engineer to inspire them to look at that field and give them an idea of what to potentially do in college. But not only by speaking, I will do more stuff and use more of my actions to ensure that the next generation is inspired by what I'm showing them.

Growing up in both a single parent and low-income household, it has taught me to be more resilient and to try and think outside the box to overcome challenges. As I grew up watching my mom work long rigorous hours trying to provide for me and my sisters, and her stories of her youth and her struggles gave me a deep sense of respect, and desire to help create a better future for my family. I have struggled from my mental health to trying to fund my education, but every barrier has helped me grow and make me want to accomplish my goal more. These experiences make me want to make sure that people are able to succeed as well. Particularly back home, I am working with my teacher to talk with the high school students and tell them about my college experiences, how I am able to succeed, and to tell them that they have the opportunity to dream big as well. I want to inspire them to take that big step and to help them feel inspired about their future post graduation. Even in my career goals, I want to use my experiences to give back to my tribe and other communities in the form of technology that is fast similarly like the bigger cities. I am actively working towards my goals by working hard in college and studying, learning how to more financially intelligent, investing in my brokerage account and researching different opportunities that will help me succeed. I want to develop faster, more capable microprocessors with my own company eventually and sell them to my tribe at a more affordable price. I also want to get my masters and eventually use my future experiences to continue to keep inspiring the younger generation to dream bigger.

My name is Nehemiah Pike and I come from the White Mountain Apache Tribe out in Whiteriver, Arizona. I am proud of my culture and I am always grateful for every experience that I am involved in. Especially in college, I have been grateful as I am from Arizona and the college I am attending is all the way out in Pennsylvania at The Pennsylvania State University. It is an eye opening experience I am making sure to utilize my resources to help me become the best student I can be. But growing up I would definitely think that I have had my struggles throughout my life. But one major struggle that I can think about in my life is definitely my own mental health. There was a time during middle school and my early high school years where it seemingly plummeted and was slowly getting worse and worse. I didn't feel like I could amount to anything great, or do anything that would make my mom or anyone else around me proud. I didn't know what to do with my future and I was lost, and it effected my schoolwork and my friends sometimes. But in high school, I made some new friends along with the friends I had, and I made my relationship better with my mom. All of this helped me see more clearly and while I didn't tell any of them about my mental health during those times, they contributed to making me a better person again. That experience majorly impacted how I saw things and how I should be grateful for every experience that I am able to be apart of. Especially when I knew I wanted to go to college and get a degree in Computer Engineering, I was grateful that I was able to dream like that. But it also shaped what I wanted to do with my career as well. At first, I would joke that I would give back to my tribe in some way and make it better but over time the more I thought about it, I realized that I actually could give back to them in the field that I want to go into. I then realized that not only am I able to be able to give back to them, I can if I put in the hard work and dedication to work towards that goal. My career goals are to develop a sort of microprocessor or CPU that is strong and can run programs similar to the big city computers. I want to make it similar to them and make it more affordable for my tribe and others to buy. It's definitely what I've been doing especially now in college. While I struggle and sometimes fail, I don't let that stop me and I learn from it and I keep moving forward. I am grateful to have grown and being able to overcome such a hard struggle is not an easy task. I will make sure to use those experiences to help push me toward working towards my career goals now. I know that eventually, I will be able to give back to my tribe and even more people through my plans.

I am the youngest son of one the strongest Apache women that I know, Stephanie. She is hardworking, caring, and she has done everything that she could to make sure that me and my sisters can succeed. By herself, she pushed herself hard to ensure that we never had to worry about no food, losing the roof over our head, and to support our academics. She did this all on her own while working long strenuous hours as a treatment center worker. As I grew up, we grew closer and she told me about the challenges she has endured growing up, the struggles of having to move and finding a job while barely any of her family didn't want to help, which made me respect her more. All of the lessons that she has taught me, the long hours that she has put into her work, and time that I have spent with my mom has shaped me into the person I am today. Admittedly, in my youth growing up I was naive to my mother's teaching thinking it was overly strict which did cause me to be a bit rebellious at times. But as I grew older, I noticed that my mother was trying her hardest for me and my sisters, but me especially since I was slightly more spoiled. But learning that she was doing this because she wanted to make sure we grew up correctly expanded my view of her in a very positive way and I began to work harder, for her. She made sure that I would get my work done in school and she supported me in whatever I did if it was chess, wrestling, or anything else. She was so supportive of me that when I graduated high school as Salutatorian, I included a portion of my speech to her. She worked so hard and it felt like my achievements were thanks to her. But while she is the greatest mom in my eyes, I have definitely seen moments where she has had her flaws. But she also makes sure to tell me to never make mistakes like those either and to always do the right thing. I also think that she has grown as well especially while working at the treatment center. She was able to learn more about generational trauma that our elders faced when they were young and went into boarding schools and how it passed onto the next generations. She saw how she was being affected and changed her ways which made her more kinder but still a strong woman. While she did want me to do my best in my academics, she had one wish for me in particular which was to go to college and get my degree. Before, I had no aspirations to go to college or what to do after high school, but as she told me to go to college, at first I disagreed. Then as I went through my junior/senior year, my mindset changed and I knew she wanted me to do this to make sure I did successful and have the opportunity to get out of our reservation and do great things. I knew engineering is one of the hardest fields and I had my eyes set on it with my mom fully supporting me as well. But currently I am in college pursuing my Computer Engineering degree to make sure I graduate with it, and become successful and make sure she is well off when she retires. It is my way of supporting her just like she did for me.

I've always been a little bit of a pacifist growing up, never really showing off my abilities which has lead to me being seen as an underdog a few times. I think in recent memory, a situation when I was considered an underdog was when I was announced to be my high school's class of 2025 salutatorian. I knew I worked hard and I never tried to boast or say that I was so successful because I figured that there was probably students that were more successful than me academically. Some folks also thought that these girls were also going to probably be the valedictorian/salutatorian because of how well they've done academically and how popular and well known they were in our class. But once they announced that my best friend was our valedictorian and I was the salutatorian, not just me but my friend was surprised to find out. I embraced my role as an underdog with surprise and humbleness. I was extremely grateful that I was academically smart enough to become our salutatorian while also being shocked. I was more shocked and proud that my very own best friend was our valedictorian. I never expected the two of us to be the top, but yet I knew that it was an important achievement and I was grateful to have been granted the role. Now I know throughout high school, sometimes I didn't do the best even considering I did keep up A's and B's. But yet I didn't stop moving forward through every hard test and every hard homework because, even in the sports/clubs I did which were chess and wrestling, I learned discipline to keep moving forward. I kept telling myself, "just like in chess move through each position" or "just like in wrestling keep moving, work through each move," which helped push me forward when I struggled. It even helped me pursue my passion of going through college and it's still helping me even now. My goal was to go to my dream college and now here I am currently. My current passion and goals are engineering and to get my degree in Computer Engineering. I know that progress isn't from perfection but persistence and I will continue to be persistent in my studies. But overall, being an underdog has taught me to treat moments of self doubt and uncertainty and turn them into drive and determination that will help guide me towards completing my goals.

I've always seen math like an amazing puzzle that is waiting to be solved. Its always been my strong point in my academics when I was growing up and is still my strongest suit in college. I've always loved learning the concepts and spending hours finishing my homework or doing practice problems. While yes, I did struggle with some learning concepts like geometry and trigonometry, I still overcame those struggles and learned them. I always love learning how to solve a problem and once I solve it, its like I know that I am getting smarter. I did take a break from math after I took my last high school quiz in May 2025, but as I entered college and took my first class of Calculus 1, I remembered how much I loved it. It felt so refreshing and it made me excited with what is to come throughout the rest of the semester. While I do hear stories about how difficult the higher levels of math are like; Calc 2, Differential Equations, and matrices, I am going to keep on moving with my head high because I want to be able to learn the concepts and solve every equation that I can. Even if it does stump me and is harder than I expect, I know that it's a part of the process and its also a part of why I love math. I think my love for math is so grand that I would love to teach people how to solve math. I think that teaching math to someone who might be struggling would be amazing and they can also see how amazing math is as well. I remember how I taught my friends and peers throughout 2-12th grade and how great it felt to go through the math problem that they were struggling on and step by step teach them were they might have been wrong or how to do the problem as a whole. I can't wait to keep learning about the different concepts of math and eventually teaching my younger peers in college now. My love for math is very unlikely to diminish but I hope that it will keep growing and growing.

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.