Growing up in Nigeria, electricity was never something I could simply assume would be available. There were times when I wanted to study, use a computer, or simply continue what I was doing, and the power would disappear. As a child, I mostly experienced those outages as frustration. Why should something so basic be so unreliable? As I grew older, I began to understand that the problem was much larger than my own inconvenience. Nigeria has long had one of the largest electricity-access deficits in the world. Millions of people still lack reliable access to power, and that affects far more than whether a light turns on. It affects businesses, hospitals, schools, factories, technology companies, and the productivity of an entire country. That realization changed the way I thought about the problems around me. Instead of only asking why these systems failed, I began asking what it would take to build better ones. Today, I am studying Computer Science at Grambling State University in the United States. Living and studying here has given me the opportunity to experience systems that I once only imagined. Reliable electricity fades into the background because it is expected. Businesses can plan around continuous power. Students can study without structuring their work around outages. Digital infrastructure, transportation systems, utilities, and companies are all able to build on top of dependable foundational systems. Seeing that has not made me look down on Nigeria. It has made me more curious about what Nigeria can become. My education in Computer Science is teaching me how complex systems are designed, how technology can improve efficiency, and how problems can be broken into components that can actually be solved. Through entrepreneurship, I am also learning that solving large problems requires more than an idea. It requires understanding users, economics, operations, incentives, and the institutions surrounding a problem. I am already applying those lessons through TradeAgent, a software platform I am building for small trade businesses. Building it has forced me to speak with real users, challenge my assumptions, and design around how people actually work. Those experiences are teaching me skills that I hope to eventually apply to much larger problems. My long-term goal is to help build companies and systems that improve life in Nigeria. Electricity is one of the problems that interests me most because reliable energy unlocks almost everything else: education, healthcare, industry, technology, and entrepreneurship. I want to learn how technology, infrastructure, private enterprise, and public systems can work together to expand access and reliability. I do not expect to return home with a single solution to a problem this large. I want to return with something more useful: the technical knowledge, experience, networks, and ability to build organizations capable of attacking difficult problems over time. Studying in the United States has shown me what becomes possible when foundational systems work reliably. My goal is to take what I learn here and help create more of that possibility in Nigeria. The frustration I felt when the lights went out as a child has become one of the reasons I want to spend my life building.

To me, integrity is doing what is right even when doing something easier would solve an immediate problem. That definition has become more important to me as I have taken on more responsibilities as a student, builder, and entrepreneur. It is easy to talk about values when circumstances are comfortable. The real test comes when there is pressure, uncertainty, or an easier shortcut available. As an international student, I have had to become very intentional about the decisions I make. There are opportunities that may seem attractive financially but are not compatible with the rules that govern my student status. When money is tight, it can be tempting to focus only on what would help in the short term. Instead, I have learned to think long term and ask whether the decision I am making is consistent with the person I want to become. That same mindset shapes the way I approach technology and entrepreneurship. I am currently building TradeAgent, a software platform for small trade businesses. One of the most important lessons I have learned from building it is that integrity also means being willing to admit when your assumptions are wrong. It would be easier to build based only on what I think customers need. Instead, I have spent time speaking with people in the industry, listening to how they actually work, and changing the product when their experiences contradict my original ideas. For me, that is a form of honesty. Good technology should not pretend to solve problems it does not understand. My core values are responsibility, curiosity, discipline, and service. Responsibility means following through on what I commit to. Curiosity means being willing to learn from people who know more than I do. Discipline means continuing to work even when progress is slow. Service means remembering that the things I build should ultimately improve someone else’s life, work, or opportunities. These values have also shaped my involvement beyond software. Through tutoring, entrepreneurship, and community-building efforts, I have learned that leadership is not simply being the person with the idea. It is being dependable, listening to others, and helping create an environment where people can contribute. I still have a great deal to learn, both technically and personally. But I want my career in technology to be built on more than skill alone. I want it to be built on trust. Technology gives people enormous power to shape systems, businesses, and everyday life. I believe that makes integrity even more important. As I continue studying Computer Science and building products, I want to become the kind of technologist whose work is not only innovative, but also thoughtful, useful, and worthy of the trust people place in it.

Technology inspires me because it gives me the ability to take a problem I can see and turn it into something that can actually help people. One project that has shaped that belief for me is TradeAgent, a software platform I have been building for small trade businesses such as plumbing companies. The idea began with a simple observation: many small service businesses are excellent at the work they do, but still depend on disconnected systems, phone calls, spreadsheets, and manual processes to manage customers, technicians, estimates, and invoices. I became interested in whether software could make those operations easier without forcing small businesses into complicated enterprise systems. Building TradeAgent has challenged me far beyond writing code. I have worked on features involving customer communication, job management, technician workflows, estimating, invoicing, AI-assisted call handling, and automation. Each technical problem forced me to think about the person on the other side of the screen. A feature can be technically impressive and still fail if it does not fit the way a plumber, dispatcher, or business owner actually works. That realization pushed me to speak directly with people in the industry. I began reaching out to plumbers and small business owners, asking how they found customers, how they handled payments, how long their workdays were, and where their current tools failed them. Some of those conversations changed how I thought about the product. For example, I learned that payment structures can look very different between a residential service call and a larger construction project. That meant the software had to adapt to the business rather than forcing every business into the same process. Those experiences changed how I view computer science. I used to think of technology primarily in terms of what could be built. Now I think just as much about what should be built, who it serves, and whether it genuinely improves someone's work. As an international student studying Computer Science, I am especially motivated by the idea that technology can let someone build solutions far beyond the environment they started in. A laptop, curiosity, and persistence can become a tool that supports businesses, creates opportunities, and solves problems at scale. TradeAgent is still growing, and there is much more for me to learn. That is part of what excites me most. Every difficult bug, customer conversation, and product decision teaches me something new about both technology and people. I want to continue building technology that is useful, practical, and grounded in real problems. For me, that is what makes this field inspiring: the possibility of turning an idea into something that makes another person's day, business, or future a little better.

Much like Sloane Stephens honors the foundational impact of her grandparents through this scholarship, my journey is rooted in the sacrifices and values of my own family. Growing up in Nigeria, I was surrounded by a stark contrast: the resilience of my people set against the weight of systemic corruption and extreme lack. My mother, whose morning prayers during our drives to school instilled an unshakable faith in me, and my father, who modeled quiet, unglamorous discipline for years so I could have opportunities he never did, taught me the same tenets Sloane's grandparents passed down to her — resilience, kindness, and self-belief. They taught me that where you start doesn't dictate where you end up, but it does define your responsibility to the people still standing where you started. I'm currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science at Grambling State University, drawn to it because I've watched technology repeatedly hand ordinary people leverage they wouldn't otherwise have. My vision is to build tools that hand that same leverage to communities usually left out of the conversation — not as a side project to a career, but as the actual point of one. That vision already has a shape. I'm the Backend Developer and co-founder of Georim, a modular event platform built to foster local connection. Alongside my partner Levi, I'm building TradeAgent OS, a field service operating system aimed at giving skilled blue-collar trade workers the same operational tools larger companies take for granted. Through Founders LA, I'm helping build a tech entrepreneurship ecosystem for Louisiana's early-stage founders — creating a space for local innovation instead of assuming it has to happen somewhere else first. And I write for The Mainstreet Report, an independent publication where I get to tell the community-rooted stories that usually don't make it into tech coverage. The impact I want to make traces directly back to what I witnessed growing up — childhood hunger, families with real ability held back by real lack of access. My mother is still the person I measure my ambition against; she built faith and stability for our family with almost nothing to build it from, and I don't take that for granted. I want to generate the resources and platforms to advocate for people in that same position — using education not as a credential, but as the mechanism to actually close the gap between innovation and the communities it usually skips over. Getting there takes real staying power. Because I'm not on a full scholarship, I currently balance coursework, my ventures, and campus ministry with a demanding job just to cover tuition and housing — time that gets pulled away from the community work I actually care about. The Sloane Stephens Doc & Glo Scholarship would ease that immediate pressure and give me back the time to focus on what I'm building — for Georim, for TradeAgent OS, for Louisiana's founders, and for the communities I write about. I want to be an agent of the kind of change my mother modeled for me: steady, resilient, and built to outlast the circumstances it started in.

Four years ago, my life was devoid of faith. As a high school student in Nigeria, I was rebellious and vehemently opposed to the notion of God. Religion was merely a cultural backdrop, nothing personal. That changed when my mother began playing the radical, faith-filled prayers of Pastor Jerry Eze during our morning drives. Hearing real testimonies of miraculous healings — people cured of cancer, spinal conditions, illnesses doctors couldn't touch — shook my skepticism loose. A reverence and love for God took root in me that I hadn't expected and couldn't explain away. That faith was tested almost immediately when I decided to study abroad. Without a full scholarship, securing a U.S. student visa from Nigeria is notoriously difficult — most applicants in my position are denied outright at the consulate. Instead of yielding to that near-certainty, I prayed, genuinely, and trusted God with it. I was one of only three students granted a visa that day. That moment didn't just answer a prayer; it reordered my life. I've since become someone who shares that same faith openly, preaching on my university campus to students who remind me of who I used to be. Like Arthur and Elana Panos, I came to the United States as an immigrant who sees this country as a real chance to build something. I'm studying Computer Science, drawn to it because it gives me the tools to build things that matter at scale. That entrepreneurial pull has already taken shape: I'm the Backend Developer and co-founder of Georim, a geofencing event platform now at MVP stage, and Lead Architect and co-founder of TradeAgent OS, an enterprise field service operating system I'm building from the ground up. I'm also part of Founders LA, surrounded by other builders trying to do this well. Scripture tells us to work at whatever we do as though working for the Lord, and that conviction shapes how I build — not just what I build. Integrity isn't a footnote to my technical work; it's the standard I'm trying to hold myself to inside it. My ambition is personal, not abstract. I grew up watching corruption drain a nation of resources it should have had, and watching people around me go without because of it. I don't want to leave my future — or my impact — to chance. Christ called His followers the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and taught that love is the greatest command. I intend to build wealth through this career specifically so I can move it toward people who don't have the option of building their own way out — James 1:27 is explicit about caring for orphans and widows, and I take that as a direct instruction, not a suggestion. That intention is currently colliding with reality. I'm not on a full scholarship, so I work a demanding job just to cover tuition and housing — time and energy that competes directly with the ventures and ministry I believe God has placed in my hands. That tension is the honest center of why this scholarship matters to me. The $500 wouldn't just ease pressure; it would return hours of my week to the work I actually believe I'm called to do. Receiving the Arthur and Elana Panos Scholarship would let me spend less time surviving and more time building — honoring God in both the effort and the outcome, the way I understand the Panos family did in building theirs.

For many students, the pursuit of a degree is a journey of intellectual growth; for others, it is a race against time and financial constraints. My path through higher education has been defined by a constant balancing act between academic ambition and the necessity of survival. As a first-generation student, I have learned that while education is the most powerful tool for breaking the cycle of poverty, the path to obtaining it is often obstructed by the very obstacles we are trying to overcome. At Grambling State University, my days are divided between the rigorous demands of software engineering and the physical reality of working long shifts in the dining hall. This duality has taught me more about endurance than any textbook could. Every hour spent working to cover living expenses is an hour taken away from deep-dive technical research or project development, yet I refuse to let these limitations dictate my trajectory. My education is not just a path to a degree; it is the laboratory where I am designing the future I intend to build. My goal is to leverage my skills in backend architecture, AI, and cloud infrastructure to build organizations that provide the financial and institutional scaffolding others currently lack. I recognize that socioeconomic status is a gatekeeper, and my professional mission is to build the “levers” that open these gates. By mastering systems that can scale efficiently, I plan to develop platforms that move beyond traditional, slow-moving support systems, instead using technology to democratize access to resources for students, immigrants, and families who, like me, are navigating the complexities of financial instability. Higher education is the vital foundation for this vision. It provides me with the technical literacy to build robust, scalable solutions and the network to collaborate with those who share this mission. Without the space to focus on my studies, my ability to innovate is severely stifled. Financial assistance allows me to trade the immediate exhaustion of survival for the long-term impact of creation. The positive impact I hope to create is grounded in the concept of "structural empathy." I do not just want to offer temporary aid; I want to build self-sustaining organizations that empower individuals to bypass the barriers of poverty entirely. Whether through creating AI-driven platforms that connect individuals with overlooked opportunities or building efficient backend systems for non-profits that lack the infrastructure to scale, my objective is to use my technical expertise to remove the systemic friction that prevents others from reaching their potential. By supporting my education, you are investing in a future where the challenges of socioeconomic status are met with superior technical solutions. My perseverance has brought me this far, but with the support of this scholarship, I can shift my focus from the daily grind of meeting basic needs to the meaningful work of architectural and societal change. I am committed to ensuring that, as I move forward, the systems I build will provide the floor upon which others can build their own success.

To me, empathy is not merely a passive sentiment; it is an active, structural response to human struggle. It is the commitment to extend a hand to those facing the same—or worse—hurdles that I have encountered. As a first-generation college student navigating the rigorous landscape of software development and backend engineering, I have learned that the most profound way to express empathy is to build systems that provide tangible support to those in need. My journey toward higher education has been anything but conventional. As a student at Grambling State University, I have spent countless hours balancing the intense demands of learning complex backend architectures with the physical exhaustion of six-hour shifts in a campus dining hall. There are days when the line between academic success and financial necessity feels razor-thin. I know what it is like to manage a budget that leaves no room for error, and I understand the silent weight carried by students who are the first in their families to navigate the labyrinth of academia. These experiences have not just been obstacles; they have been the crucible in which my definition of empathy was forged. I view my technical skills—my work with cloud infrastructure, AI, and distributed systems—as more than just lines of code. They are levers. In a world that is increasingly digitized, access to opportunity is often gated by technology. My ambition is to master these tools so I can build the organizations of tomorrow—ventures designed specifically to sponsor, mentor, and provide resources for students, immigrants, and anyone currently weathering the storm of financial instability. I want to build platforms that don’t just analyze data, but redistribute opportunity. By scaling solutions that address the root causes of financial strain, I aim to create an ecosystem where an individual’s potential is not dictated by their current bank balance or their lack of institutional history. My goal is to use the leverage of software to build a more empathetic global community—one where the path to success is paved with the same technology that often keeps people out. This scholarship represents more than just a financial bridge; it is a validation of the path I have chosen. It provides the stability I need to remain focused on my degree and the development of the systems I intend to launch. By supporting me, you are not just funding a student; you are investing in the infrastructure of future support systems. I am committed to ensuring that, as I rise, I am constantly building the architecture that allows others to rise with me. My technical skills will serve as the foundation, but my commitment to empathy will be the blueprint for the impact I intend to leave behind.

I was born in Lagos, a city of unrelenting motion, and raised in Ikorodu, Nigeria. I am currently a student at Grambling State University. Moving from a vast West African megacity to a peaceful Louisiana college town was more than a geographical shift; it symbolized development, adjustment, and the start of a profoundly new phase in my life. As an international, first-generation college student, I did not inherit a roadmap for navigating higher education. I had to build one from scratch. I grew up in a home where enterprise and discipline coexisted. My father, Harrison Jalla, fought for environmental justice for communities affected by oil spills in southern Nigeria, introducing me early on to issues of leadership and responsibility. My mother, Rose Jalla, worked as a trader, real estate agent, and fabric dealer, modeling independence and relentless tenacity. They gave me grit, but the unspoken rules of college applications, international visas, and the academic ecosystem were a foreign language I had to decode alone. Today, I balance a full academic course load in computer science with a demanding part-time job in the university dining hall just to afford my tuition and remain in this country. My academic path has not always been straightforward. I originally planned to pursue genetics, but a chance encounter with someone coding in Python while I prepared for the SAT changed everything. Seeing how code could solve problems and build systems fascinated me. Now, I am architecting complex software—like AI-driven dispatch operating systems—designed to empower local businesses. I do not view formal education as my final destination, but rather as a stop along a larger journey toward financial independence and entrepreneurship. I plan to inspire other first-generation students through tangible action and infrastructure, not just words. Ambition is hollow if it doesn't scale to help others. I am actively building a digital network to connect isolated student builders and minority founders across Louisiana, creating the exact kind of mentorship ecosystem that first-generation students inherently lack. Having received an entrepreneurship award from Howard University, my focus is locked on building and leading ventures rather than simply participating in them. I use this momentum to support campus entrepreneurship programs, helping my peers structure their own ideas. Being the first in my family to pursue a degree here means absorbing the friction so that those who come after me do not have to. I want to build systems, businesses, and opportunities that outlast my direct involvement. This scholarship would alleviate the heavy financial friction of my journey, allowing me to transition hours spent working in the cafeteria directly back into my community initiatives and engineering research. I want to show other first-generation students that our lack of inherited academic privilege is not a deficit; it is the very constraint that teaches us how to build our own tables.

Tia Lukeya Woods believed that learning doesn’t stop at the border of a single country, and that a passport can double as a syllabus. I chose Path One because I am currently living the exact cross-border exploration Tia championed. For me, studying abroad is not a brief summer excursion; it is my everyday reality. My global education began the moment I boarded a plane from Nigeria to the United States to study software development and backend engineering at Grambling State University. I crossed borders because the questions I have about the future of technology and economic empowerment could not be answered in a vacuum. Growing up in Nigeria, I witnessed incredible entrepreneurial spirit limited by fragmented infrastructure. I traveled to the U.S. to master the deep, low-level iron of distributed technology systems—to understand exactly how the world's most advanced digital and economic ecosystems are architected. I want to learn how to build event-driven, autonomous platforms that can eventually bridge the gap between emerging markets and established tech hubs. However, the financial realities of being an international student are daunting. When you cross an ocean to learn, the educational journey is constantly shadowed by strict visa constraints, unfavorable currency exchange rates, and the daily cost of survival. To maintain my place in this country and fund my education, I work demanding part-time shifts in the university dining hall. Managing physical labor while carrying a rigorous engineering course load is a heavy burden. My global learning experience is often restricted by the simple need to pay rent and afford basic groceries, leaving precious little capital—or cognitive bandwidth—to fully immerse myself in the academic and cultural exploration that traveling to the U.S. was supposed to provide. The Tia Lukeya Woods Scholarship would be transformative because it would allow me to sustain and deepen the international journey I have already begun. Rather than simply funding a new trip, this award would serve as the critical financial bridge that keeps me in my host country, learning and building. It would meaningfully reduce the barrier of my tuition and living expenses, allowing me to transition hours previously spent working in the cafeteria directly into my systems architecture research and community-building initiatives on campus. Tia carried immense pride in her Bronx roots while relentlessly exploring the globe. I carry my Nigerian heritage with that same fierce pride, using it as the foundation for everything I build here in Louisiana. If awarded this scholarship, I will honor Tia’s legacy by merging the resilience of my background with the advanced technical education I am receiving abroad. I intend to use this cross-cultural experience to become a better global citizen and a world-class engineer, architecting software systems that span borders, empower communities, and reflect the expansive, joyful curiosity that defined Tia’s life.

To build systems that endure, you must understand both the mechanics of the architecture and the needs of the community the architecture serves. As a software development and backend engineering student at Grambling State University, my dual passions are deeply intertwined: I am driven to master the complex, low-level iron of distributed technology systems while simultaneously building the foundational networks that uplift the community around me. Attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) has instilled in me a profound understanding that technical excellence is hollow unless it is leveraged to create tangible, real-world value for others. My educational, professional, and civic goals are all aligned toward this singular mission: becoming a world-class systems architect who builds both economic and operational infrastructure for underserved ecosystems. My immediate educational goals are focused on mastering the deepest layers of backend system architecture and advanced artificial intelligence engineering. In a software landscape often saturated with superficial applications, I have dedicated my academic focus to data integrity, crash-tolerant systems, and highly parallelized data processing. My coursework and independent research center on engineering autonomous, event-driven architectures that utilize AI as a robust reasoning engine rather than a simple conversational novelty. By pushing myself to understand how data moves across complex infrastructure at scale, I am preparing myself to transition from building temporary software tools to architecting foundational enterprise operating systems. Professionally, my goal is to launch technological ventures that democratize advanced infrastructure for traditional, local businesses that have been historically left behind by the digital revolution. I want to build systems that streamline operations, eliminate administrative bottlenecks, and protect the narrow margins of blue-collar service industries. By creating platforms that handle the tedious complexity of automated dispatching, intelligent scheduling, and seamless financial reconciliation, I aim to empower local businesses to scale efficiently and compete against massive monolithic corporations. Ultimately, I view software engineering not just as a career, but as a vehicle for economic mobilization, allowing me to build robust, scalable platforms that inject capital and efficiency directly back into regional economies. However, true leadership requires balancing professional ambition with an unwavering commitment to public and civic service. My dedication to community orchestration stems from the belief that we must build ecosystems that sustain the talent within our communities. One of the most significant challenges facing regional tech ecosystems, particularly in the South, is the phenomenon of "brain drain"—where brilliant minority engineers and creators graduate from institutions like Grambling, look at a fragmented local economy, and immediately take their talents to external metropolitan hubs. To combat this, I have committed myself to building regional networks that connect and anchor local talent. I am currently leading an initiative to unite fragmented startup founders and student builders across Louisiana into a unified, high-signal, proof-of-work digital community. By creating a collaborative environment where young operators can share resources, critique architecture, and test minimal viable products, this network functions as a localized incubator. This service aims to keep talent, capital, and innovation within the state, ensuring that the next generation of minority technologists has a thriving sandbox to build within right at home. This passion for community empowerment builds upon my prior experience in structured civic engagement. I previously participated in an environmental philanthropy externship under the PwC x Justice Outside cohort, where I collaborated on intensive donor research projects to direct capital toward environmental justice initiatives. Furthermore, I was honored to receive a student organization grant managed by Howard University and the PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship. I used this funding directly to support a campus entrepreneurship program, actively mentoring fellow minority students, helping them structure their business concepts, and providing them with the framework to pursue their own ventures. Whether conducting philanthropic research, funding campus ideas, or building digital architecture to bridge isolated founders, my civic commitment focuses on creating structural opportunities where they are needed most. The brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated have historically modeled what it means to marry elite intellect with revolutionary civic responsibility. Receiving this scholarship would provide critical financial support, allowing me to focus less on immediate cost-of-living constraints and dedicate more of my energy to shipping code, maintaining academic excellence at my HBCU, and expanding the digital infrastructure I am building for our community. I am ready to continue the grind, master the iron, and ensure that as my systems scale, my community rises with them.

The industrial hum of a dining hall refrigerator is a long way from the quiet precision of a distributed cloud architecture. As a university student pursuing a degree in software development and backend engineering, my life exists in a strict dichotomy. By day, I am a food service worker, spending six-hour shifts managing the physical chaos of a campus cafeteria. By night, I am a systems architect, building event-driven software and artificial intelligence platforms. Balancing this part-time physical labor with a rigorous engineering curriculum is a heavy load, but it operates as a ruthless forcing function. Because I do not have the luxury of endless free time or infinite capital, I have to treat my schedule like a highly optimized computational resource. Every hour not spent serving meals or attending lectures is allocated directly to shipping code. Currently, this means returning from a draining shift on my feet and immediately diving into configuring databases and asynchronous worker queues for my technical projects. The job pays the bills, but it also strips away any room for procrastination, forcing me to execute with absolute efficiency. This equilibrium was not easily achieved. The most severe test of my ability to balance these dual lives occurred last semester during the development of "Georim," a complex, event-driven AI application I was building. I was simultaneously carrying a full academic course load, working my standard cafeteria shifts, and trying to architect the core features of the platform. The physical exhaustion of the dining hall began to bleed into my cognitive bandwidth. I hit a breaking point when my primary development environment—a Linux machine—crashed, requiring a massive manual system upgrade via a text-only terminal right in the middle of exams. I was sleep-deprived, physically drained, and rapidly falling behind on both my academic and engineering deadlines. I overcame this by applying the very systems-engineering principles I was studying directly to my life. I realized I was trying to run too many processes at once, leading to a personal system crash. I hard-reset my schedule and implemented strict compartmentalization. My cafeteria hours became purely physical, allowing my brain to rest and reset; my lecture hours were dedicated solely to academic theory; and my late-night blocks were ruthlessly protected for deep, uninterrupted coding. I stopped trying to multitask and started executing in highly focused sprints. Through this structured approach, I successfully recovered my development environment, shipped the application's Minimum Viable Product on time, and maintained my academic standing without dropping a single shift at work. The friction of working part-time in food service while studying advanced technical concepts has ultimately forged a level of grit that cannot be taught in a classroom. It has taught me how to operate under intense constraints, a skill that translates perfectly into building highly resilient software. This scholarship would provide vital financial relief, allowing me to reclaim a portion of my time to dedicate even further toward my education and my goal of building generational technology infrastructure.