Growing up, mental health was always looked at as for weak people and people who cant handle life as soon as it gets tough. It was looked at as an excuse. That mindset almost killed me. Mental health is important because everyone goes through events that effects them differently than it may effect other people. If its ignored just because someone who is not as effected by it says everyone should not be effected by it, it makes it harder. I now maintain my mental health by talking to a therapist every couple of weeks. I am also on medications for anxiety, depression, and ADHD. All those disorders are the results of me trying to ignore my mental health in Highschool after the passing of my friend. After the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year- Junior year. My friend was at a slow decline in her health for 2 years. With ups and downs, no one was truly able to feel calm. I dealt with this through my sophomore and junior year of high school. She was so strong, she kept playing video games with me even though her headaches would cause her to cry, even though she would get tired within 5 minutes, even when she was no longer verbal, she would still hang out with me. She left this world on thanksgiving. I hated thanksgiving, I hated myself, and I hated God for taking her from me. If i had prioritized my mental health then I would not have went to school right after her funeral. I wouldn't have tried to keep myself busy, I would have focused in class, I would have noticed the decline in my own mental health. If i had taken my mental heath seriously maybe I would not feel so behind everyone else and suicidal. I am now trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up from a 2.8 my Jr. year, to a 3.7 senior year. I missed early decision since i was playing catch up... so I took a Gap year to get my head in the right space, and to catch up with all i missed my junior year. I am excited for the future and college but have lost a lot of time. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, after the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year- my Junior Year. I am trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up to a 3.7 and applied to colleges as a computer science major. I am excited for the future but have lost a lot of time. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. This is my story. The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After Katies funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. In an oddly beautiful surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the Minecraft world we created together. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. My name is Olivia Sillas, after the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year. I am trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up to a 3.7 and applied to colleges as a computer science major. I am excited for the future but have lost a lot of time. I want to get closer to my community and culture at an HBCU. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. My name is Olivia Sillas, after the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year. I am trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up to a 3.7 and applied to colleges as a computer science major. I am excited for the future but have lost a lot of time. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship

My name is Olivia Sillas, I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. My mother was forced to join the military straight out of high school. She was 5'3, barley over 100lbs and had a high pitch voice. My mother is the hardest worker I know. She sored up through the ranks of the military forcing the respect she deserved. My mother being a small unintimidating African American woman put her at a lower stance around her peers but she kept pushing and gained her respect. I am like my mother then, I am not as small as her but i do not get the respect I deserve. I want to work just as hard if not harder than my mother to show everyone that I am someone worth fearing and respecting. My mother is now a Lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is planned to retire finally after over 30 years this October. Going through homelessness, divorce, and poverty, my mother deserves a break, it is time for me to take over and take care of her like she did me. African American women have to work a lot harder just to be seen as equal as the white American male, and my mother did more than that. She deserves everything she earned, I want to make her proud.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. And in an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. My name is Olivia Sillas, after the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year. I am trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up to a 3.7 and applied to colleges as a computer science major. I am excited for the future but have lost a lot of time. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. A black leader that inspired me is my mother. My mother was forced to join the military straight out of high school. She was 5'3, barley over 100lbs and had a high pitch voice. My mother is the hardest worker I know. She sored up through the ranks of the military forcing the respect she deserved. My mother being a small unintimidating African American woman put her at a lower stance around her peers but she kept pushing and gained her respect. I am like my mother then, I am not as small as her but i do not get the respect I deserve. I want to work just as hard if not harder than my mother to show everyone that I am someone worth fearing and respecting. My mother is now a Lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is planned to retire finally after over 30 years this October. Going through homelessness, divorce, and poverty, my mother deserves a break, it is time for me to take over and take care of her like she did me. African American women have to work a lot harder just to be seen as equal as the white American male, and my mother did more than that. She deserves everything she earned, I want to make her proud.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. And in an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. My name is Olivia Sillas, after the death of my best friend, a harsh reality hit me and I gave up during my most import year. I am trying to reclaim my life now hoping that it isn't to late. I spent my senior year catching up and got my GPA up to a 3.7 and applied to colleges as a computer science major. I am excited for the future but have lost a lot of time. This scholarship would be a blessing and put me back in the spot i need to be. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. My mother was forced to join the military straight out of high school. She was 5'3, barley over 100lbs and had a high pitch voice. My mother is the hardest worker I know. She sored up through the ranks of the military forcing the respect she deserved. My mother being a small unintimidating African American woman put her at a lower stance around her peers but she kept pushing and gained her respect. I am like my mother then, I am not as small as her but i do not get the respect I deserve. I want to work just as hard if not harder than my mother to show everyone that I am someone worth fearing and respecting. My mother is now a Lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is planned to retire finally after over 30 years this October. Going through homelessness, divorce, and poverty, my mother deserves a break, it is time for me to take over and take care of her like she did me. African American women have to work a lot harder just to be seen as equal as the white American male, and my mother did more than that. She deserves everything she earned, I want to make her proud.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. My mother was forced to join the military straight out of high school. She was 5'3, barley over 100lbs and had a high pitch voice. My mother is the hardest worker I know. She sored up through the ranks of the military forcing the respect she deserved. My mother being a small unintimidating African American woman put her at a lower stance around her peers but she kept pushing and gained her respect. I am like my mother then, I am not as small as her but i do not get the respect I deserve. I want to work just as hard if not harder than my mother to show everyone that I am someone worth fearing and respecting. My mother is now a Lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is planned to retire finally after over 30 years this October. Going through homelessness, divorce, and poverty, my mother deserves a break, it is time for me to take over and take care of her like she did me. African American women have to work a lot harder just to be seen as equal as the white American male, and my mother did more than that. She deserves everything she earned, I want to make her proud.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. A black woman who has inspired me, as cliché as it is, is my mother. My mother was forced to join the military straight out of high school. She was 5'3, barley over 100lbs and had a high pitch voice. My mother is the hardest worker I know. She sored up through the ranks of the military forcing the respect she deserved. My mother being a small unintimidating African American woman put her at a lower stance around her peers but she kept pushing and gained her respect. I am like my mother then, I am not as small as her but i do not get the respect I deserve. I want to work just as hard if not harder than my mother to show everyone that I am someone worth fearing and respecting. My mother is now a Lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and is planned to retire finally after over 30 years this October. Going through homelessness, divorce, and poverty, my mother deserves a break, it is time for me to take over and take care of her like she did me. African American women have to work a lot harder just to be seen as equal as the white American male, and my mother did more than that. She deserves everything she earned, I want to make her proud.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister whom they look up to. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA, and I am not in foster care. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister whom they look up to. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister whom they look up to. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister whom they look up to. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister whom they look up to. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

Hello, my name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA, and I am an African American qeer ciswoman. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology, I could help program an app to help navigate through the different programs on computers. I am not sure exactly 100% what specific job in technology I want to do, but I do know that I have a burning passion for it and the fire will not be going out any time soon. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. After receiving no money, for college at all, this money would help a lot, and would help me gain confidence in myself. I liked girls since I was in preschool, I remember having crushes and since I grew up a Baptist it always felt wrong. I grew up not knowing anything about romantic feelings, but knowing how I felt about girls was wrong. I hid it for as long as I could until I just got burnt out and stopped caring. Being gay still does not feel right to me and I struggle finding comfort in it. The LGBTQ+ community protesters are the complete opposite, they never let it get to them and stay prideful. They stay speaking up for what people like me are to scared to say. I want to have pride in myself. I want to have pride in my sexuality just as much as I have in my career path.

My name is Olivia Sillas, and I am a black Queer, Cis Woman. I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

I was around 5 when my parents divorced. Like most parents, including mines, it was very messy. Unlike most divorces though, my mother was in the Airforce, she went into the reserves so she could take care of me more since she got main custody over me. She wasn't making enough money, and we were homeless. We lived in East St. Louis inside my father's grandmother's basement. During these times, I was very close to my family members. I played with a bunch of cousins and saw my aunts and uncles every day. My Fathers Grandmothers house was not located in a good area. It was in the projects, so the family I was raised around were also raised in the same projects. I never understood why my mother was so eager to move away from that area, since it was full of family and people I loved. When we did move out, we were couch hopping. Thankfully, my mother got an ROTC instructor job at the University of Illinois. At the time I was angry because I had to leave all my family including my father and go to a new state with my mother. It took time, but I eventually got accustomed to my life in Illinois and we were happy. That happiness was cut short when my mother was deployed to Afghanistan for about a year. My dad was a few hours away and my mom was in a different country. This is when my mother's mom came from Springfield IL, to take care of me. It was fun being able to hang out with my grandma every day, but it grew old, I was to young to understand the dangers of the world, but old enough to have fear for my mothers life. When she came back, I was happy when she officially came back, she remarried, and had 2 more kids, I had always wanted siblings. This happiness again was cut short, 3 years later, she got stationed in Virginia. This move was 10 times harder than the first one. I had friends this time that I had known for 3 years. I was moving even further from my father. When we did move, my new school was humongous, in comparison to my old school with only 4 students in the 4th grade, my new school classroom had a max of 28 students. I was scared, but adapted quick, got out of my comfort zone and made new friends that would become my best friends throughout high school and even past high school. In high school, I was always hearing bad stuff happening to my family members in East. St. Louis and it made me realize everything. Moving on was hard, but it was necessary for me to grow. Now grown up, I realized why my mother was so eager to get me out of East St. Louis. I feel so blessed that we had the opportunity that, through the military, we got to move away from a community the did not reflect our life goals for ourselves. I had seen and been through so much and thought it was normal. When in fact it was not. The cousins I grew up with are still in those same projects repeating the cycle. I don't want to turn out like them, where a dying thug or a young gangster is glorified. I want to go to college, I want to be able to benefit my community and make my mother happy. My mother will retire in October 2024 as a Lieutenant colonel after 30+ years.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. In my career in the technology field. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology, I could help program an app to help navigate through the different programs on computers. I am not sure exactly 100% what in technology I want to do, but I do know that I have a burning passion for it and the fire will not be going out any time soon. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. This scholarship would give me 500$ less stress for my college life and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. My family makes money, but I have 4 siblings who need to be taken care of. As the oldest, i hate having to be put before my siblings, and I do not want my parents to worry about me when I go to college, so my siblings can get the attention they need to grow successful. I care about my family, friends and my community. They are the reason I push so hard to be successful and happy. A time my contributions to my community affected me, was when I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. I saw and helped many people, I got to talk to a lot of people as well. The one that stood out the most was this old lady, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. Thank you for considering mee for this scholarship. I dont want to worry my family, My mother and Father divorced and so having to pick up my college payments would be a burden. As someone interested computer engineering and computer sciences, its only inevitable to spend a lot of money of my education.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. In an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. I try my hardest to be optimistic, I'm blessed with life and to young to not take chances because of anxiety or depression. Thank you for considering me.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology, I could help program an app to help navigate through the different programs on computers. I am not sure exactly 100% what in technology I want to do, but I do know that I have a burning passion for it and the fire will not be going out any time soon. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. This scholarship would give me 500$ less stress for my college life and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. My family makes money, but I have 4 siblings who need to be taken care of. As the oldest, i hate having to be put before my siblings, and I do not want my parents to worry about me when I go to college, so my siblings can get the attention they need to grow successful. I care about my family, friends and my community. They are the reason I push so hard to be successful and happy. A time my contributions to my community affected me, was when I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. I saw and helped many people, I got to talk to a lot of people as well. The one that stood out the most was this old lady, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. Thank you for considering mee for this scholarship. I do not want to worry my family, My mother and Father divorced and so having to pick up my college payments would be a burden. As someone interested computer engineering and computer sciences, its only inevitable to spend a lot of money of my education.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. A lady who stood out, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. This scholarship would give me 500$ less stress for my college life and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. My family makes money, but I have 4 siblings who need to be taken care of. As the oldest, i hate having to be put before my siblings, and I do not want my parents to worry about me when I go to college, so my siblings can get the attention they need to grow successful. I care about my family, friends and my community. They are the reason I push so hard to be successful and happy. A time my contributions to my community affected me, was when I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. I saw and helped many people, I got to talk to a lot of people as well. The one that stood out the most was this old lady, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship. I do not want to worry my family, My mother and Father divorced and so having to pick up my college payments would be a burden. As someone interested computer engineering and computer sciences, it is only inevitable to spend a lot of money of my education.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial. Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. And in an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial.  Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. And in an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. I had to get away from everything and think about what I wanted because my mind was blinded with grief, it took a while, but after about 2 years I'm not blinded anymore and can think. I want to work in the stem career field. Grief stunts growth but can also push it if you use it to your advantage.

The pandemic was hard. Staying connected to my two closest friends since 6th grade, Kaylah and Katie, looked different in 2020. Instead of catching up in the hall or cafeteria, we were catching up online daily while playing Minecraft together in an effort to beat the game. So much stayed the same - our friendship, playing video games, and sharing stories, and yet everything changed that year: Katie was diagnosed with brain cancer in October. I was a sophomore. Too young to know that I should be terrified of Katie’s diagnosis and too isolated to witness it in person. As long as we all stayed in our imaginary Minecraft world we could all escape to a better place of our own creation. And it worked for a while, at least until Katie began having seizures and more appointments with doctors out of state - that’s when I knew things were getting worse. It was such a painful paradox. I was confronting the reality that youth does not guarantee life and that my closest friend was in danger of losing hers. Devastated and disgusted, it was easier to be in denial.  Despite Katie’s many appointments I continued to pretend like everything was fine; and for me it was as long as we had Minecraft. We continued to play together daily and by December we defeated the game. It was the last win we would experience together. The summer came and went and before I knew it, we had our first in-person school day. I was excited to finally see my friends and was shocked to see, in person, the one that I had missed most: Katie. Though it felt like old times with Katie, Kaylah and I back together it quickly deteriorated. Not long after the start of the school year Katie’s seizures became more intense and she had to withdraw from school. I couldn’t function and with Katie’s withdrawal from school my GPA tumbled from a 3.6 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Katie passed on Thanksgiving afternoon. After watching a video Katie made for her funeral, my stepfather dropped me off at school later that day. I could not pay attention in my classes and I did not care about school at all. The last time I talked to Katie she had just recovered from another major seizure. She no longer remembered us so Kaylah and I had to reintroduce ourselves by telling jokes and making her laugh. Although we explained to Katie we have known her since childhood she was still uncomfortable with us because we were essentially strangers to her. It was so hard for us and yet in some ways probably easier for her. How difficult it would be to recognize your friends, representatives of the life you had but are unlikely to ever have again, and to spend time with them knowing your time was coming to a close. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt and yet I’m grateful she had that gift. And in an oddly beautiful and perfect surprise, I find Katie every time I open my gaming console because I still have our memories with me through the awesome Minecraft world we created together. Experiences like this doesn't break you, it makes you, and when you go through a hard patch again, you can remember that you will always make it out by being positive.

I have been a “gamer” for a long time. I plan on engaging myself in the technology industry by getting myself the proper education to gain confidence, and by using my knowledge to help others to protect their cyber security and to help make computers more reliable and advanced. Growing up, I was always involved in technology. I was in STEM classes and summer camps which helped pique my interest in technology. Using the passion for technology that I gained from a young age, I will educate myself on how to program and how to put the hardware components of a computer together. I will also learn cyber security. My career will be set on cyber security, programming and the hardware of a computer. As an African American woman in a white male dominant field, I will inspire younger black women to follow their passions. In my career in the technology field, I want to teach others how to protect themselves online and show how to build and program their own computer. Technology will only get more advanced and more relied on from here, so it is important to know and be able to comprehend these things. This scholarship puts me on the right track in computer science to be able to go to school and focus on gaining knowledge and confidence in this field so I can help others. My mother was forced into the military and my stepfather is apart of law enforcement. They both risk themselves everyday for our community and more importantly their family. I have 4 siblings, when I get home from school, I have to take care and sometimes take over the parent role. When I leave for college, my parents will still have to worry for me due to the lack of funding for the high level of education I am shooting for. I am grateful for what my parents do for me but I do not want them to worry and put there efforts into me anymore. I would like them to focus on my siblings so they can grown up and be as ambitious as their oldest sister. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.

Hello, my name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA, and I am an African American qeer ciswoman. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology, I could help program an app to help navigate through the different programs on computers. I am not sure exactly 100% what in technology I want to do, but I do know that I have a burning passion for it and the fire will not be going out any time soon. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. I liked girls since I was in preschool, I remember having crushes and since I grew up a Baptist it always felt wrong. I grew up not knowing anything about romantic feelings, but knowing how I felt about girls was wrong. I hid it for as long as I could until I just got burnt out and stopped caring. Being gay still does not feel right to me and I struggle finding comfort in it. The LGBTQ+ community is the complete opposite, yes they probably had the same struggle as me if not worse, but they never let it get to them and stay prideful. You guys stay speaking up for what people like me are to scared to say. I want to have pride in myself. I want to have pride in my sexuality just as much as I have in my career path.

My name is Olivia Sillas, I am from Grafton Highschool in Yorktown, VA. I plan on majoring in computer science, since a young age, I was always super interested in the STEM field. I spent my childhood going to any technology camp/class, or the game I was heavily interested in, Minecraft. I took a lot of Minecraft classes, they didn't just tech me how to play Minecraft, but they taught me how to make my own videogame within Minecraft, how to make my own Mods for video games, and in general started a fire in me and a passion for the roots of videogames and technology. As far as my goals in life I know they will be heavily STEM related. I want to be a able to help people with the knowledge I get from college. My college education should give me the confidence in what I love so then I can help people. Whether its by protecting others cyber security, teaching cyber security. Maybe with the advancements of technology, I could help program an app to help navigate through the different programs on computers. I am not sure exactly 100% what in technology I want to do, but I do know that I have a burning passion for it and the fire will not be going out any time soon. My dream would be to work for a company called NVIDIA. I love the computer hardware they create and would love to be apart of there team in helping the advancements of computer hardware and programs. If I could spend the rest of my life building computers and helping other people with the understandings of technology I would be happy. But in order to do that, since college is not free, I need time and money, I have plenty of time and not enough money to follow my dreams. This scholarship would give me 500$ less stress for my college life and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. My family makes money, but I have 4 siblings who need to be taken care of. As the oldest, i hate having to be put before my siblings, and I do not want my parents to worry about me when I go to college, so my siblings can get the attention they need to grow successful. I care about my family, friends and my community. They are the reason I push so hard to be successful and happy. A time my contributions to my community affected me, was when I was volunteering at my local hospital, I was in an EMT class and this experience was needed. I saw and helped many people, I got to talk to a lot of people as well. The one that stood out the most was this old lady, I just did her EKG and she was almost at tears seeing how I was working to help her at a young age. She told me to do what made me happy and to never stop helping people because that will lead me to a fulfilled life. So now, I am pursuing the career field that makes me happy, and will help the community more in a different way. Thank you for considering mee for this scholarship. I dont want to worry my family, My mother and Father divorced and so having to pick up my college payments would be a burden. As someone interested computer engineering and computer sciences, its only inevitable to spend a lot of money of my education.