In the tapestry of my life, the threads of love, resilience, and a fervent desire for change have woven a unique narrative. Born into a family marked by profound loss and unbreakable strength, I found purpose in a world where opportunities often seemed distant. I was born to a loving mother and an older sister. Sadly, three months prior, my father died in a tragic accident while trying to save my sister. My mother means the world to me because she's the strongest person I know. No matter how reckless of a child I was and how much heartbreak she's endured, I have been able to pursue my aspirations and make her proud of who I've become. I hope to one day support everyone in my family and do that while also being proud of my work. Growing up in a low-income household, I have witnessed firsthand the challenges many families face in accessing quality education and opportunities. Despite these obstacles, I have consistently strived to excel academically and pursue my passion for science, engineering, and environmental sustainability. My interest in environmental engineering/science was sparked by a deep concern for the ever-increasing carbon emissions and their detrimental effects on our environment. Being brought up in a world grappling with the consequences of environmental degradation, I developed an unwavering commitment to finding innovative solutions to combat the pressing challenges our planet faces. I am passionate about exploring and developing safe technologies that can be a part of our diverse energy mix to achieve a low-carbon future. As the controls and design lead for a FIRST Robotics team (Team 1912 Combustion), I've witnessed the potency of interdisciplinary collaboration. This role has honed my leadership and problem-solving skills, fostering an innate drive to conquer intricate challenges. My 3-year involvement with FIRST Robotics has fundamentally reshaped my perspective. It has instilled in me a profound desire to harness technology and innovation to make a lasting impact on the world, propelling me toward meaningful change. My ocean sciences research at the Naval Research Laboratory exposed me to the intricacies of our world's interconnected systems. My mentor and I worked closely to form a unique project using defunct tools. We discovered significant deformities in the direct assimilation of synthetic altimetry profiles. Given more time, we could fix such deformities and improve direct altimetry forecasting for the Navy. My experience at NRL showed me that I could adapt to differing fields of study and excel in my dream of climate conservation. When I started high school, I promised myself to be proud of all the work I produced. Although my household and immediate family have transformed many times, I devote my success and motivation to my mom, my greatest source of inspiration. I want to inspire others with my work and hopefully alter the environmental sustainability landscape for generations beyond me. Environmental degradation is a worldwide problem that requires scientific and engineering advancement. The advancements I have made in my life are small steps towards solving a much larger problem than myself, but I hope to be a contributor to the conservation of the Earth and our species. As I stand at the precipice of the future, armed with determination, I am ready to unleash my potential, leaving an indelible mark on the world.

In the tapestry of my life, the threads of love, resilience, and a fervent desire for change have woven a unique narrative. I found purpose in a world where opportunities often seemed distant. Growing up in a low-income household, I have witnessed firsthand the challenges many families face in accessing quality education and opportunities. Despite these obstacles, I have consistently strived to excel academically and pursue my passion for engineering and environmental sustainability. In the modern age, where innovation and progress shape the contours of our lives, there exists a realm that fuses logic and creativity in a symphony of digital wonder. This dynamic and evolving landscape has captured my intellectual curiosity with an intensity that grows stronger with time. From the graceful elegance of lines of code to the exhilarating satisfaction of solving intricate problems, the world of programming has become a haven where my fascination finds expression. I've been fascinated with tinkering and exploring technology since I was a child. When I was 7, I jailbroke my mom's phone and installed unsupported software on our Wii and my DS. When I was 10, I made my own RGH or reset glitch-hacked Xbox 360 so I could modify the system's firmware and install cracked games. I built my first computer when I was 11 after researching what parts I would need for a budget gaming computer. After this, I began exploring and studying computer hardware and basic HTML programming. I took STEAM and IT classes in 7th grade where I made my first CAD projects using SketchUp and games with Alice. During that year, I co-founded a website called GameRate with 300+ free-to-play Flash and HTML5 games. It gained popularity in my school and surrounding areas. At its peak, it gained 100k visits monthly. Sadly, In December 2020, Adobe Flash Player lost support, so our website lost most of its functionality. In 8th grade, I made a website called The Hub that included links and downloads for most mainstream gaming, editing, production, benchmarking, and scientific programs and tools. It was an extensive project that I couldn't sustain on my own, but I still have hopes of continuing production further. I also began repairing computers and phones for money. I earned approximately $1000 repairing computers, installing software, and making graphic designs that year. After entering high school, I began learning Python on my own to expand my portfolio. It also served as an extracurricular activity when I had limited choices. I also took Drafting, Digital Media, and PLTW Engineering courses, which gave me experience and certificates in AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Inventor, Photoshop, and InDesign. In addition, as the controls and design lead for a FIRST Robotics team (Team 1912 Combustion), I've witnessed the potency of interdisciplinary collaboration. This role has honed my leadership and problem-solving skills, fostering an innate drive to conquer intricate challenges. My 3-year involvement with FIRST Robotics has fundamentally reshaped my perspective. It has instilled in me a profound desire to harness technology and innovation to make a lasting impact on the world, propelling me toward meaningful change. With the hopes of winning an academic scholarship, I intend to further my education, gaining more real-world experience in environmental science and engineering. Environmental degradation is a worldwide problem that requires scientific and engineering advancement. The advancements I have made in my life are small steps towards solving a much larger problem than myself, but I hope to be a contributor to the conservation of the Earth and our species.

Understanding the universe is humanity's key to unlocking what we know as the answers to life itself. Humanity has found methods to further our advancement in understanding how the universe functions. For as long as humans have existed, answers to our existence have been of utmost importance. Whether the answers originate from religion and story-telling or mathematics, we have found ways to advance our understanding of our world. Employing concepts that rely on mathematics and factual evidence can give a better idea of how our universe was built and might provide us with the answer to why we exist in the first place. Understanding the nature of our universe can be a complex challenge to face. At the heart of each discovery is the human mind seeking to understand the unfamiliar. After all, the universe was not built to be understood by its inhabitants. The discipline to reach an understanding requires the human mind to be conscious not only of the universe but of itself. Only 5% of the universe is composed of observable matter. The human eye can only detect matter within this tiny fraction that emits light at a specific frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum. We can only detect visible light, unlike birds and snakes who can detect both magnetic fields and infrared light. The range at which humans interpret space is a direct product of the human mind. In that way, our conception of space is a result of human thought. Detecting the remaining 95% of the universe is a tedious and untimely task for astrophysicists. Einstein's laws of gravity and the theory of general relativity provide a relative means of understanding the obscurity of our universe. Although it claimed that space and time are inexorably linked, special relativity did not take gravity into account. In the ten years between the two publications, Einstein spent a lot of work figuring out how gravitational distortion results from extremely enormous objects warping space-time. Albert Einstein established that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers in his theory of special relativity, and he demonstrated that the speed of light within a vacuum is the same regardless of the speed at which an observer travels. As a result, he discovered that space and time were inextricably linked to form a single continuum known as space-time. Events that happen at the same time for one observer may happen at different times for another. The issues we have with our conception of the universe go beyond what we can see. The way we examine the cosmos is influenced by our mentality and the civilization in which it was developed. We have mental blind spots for the cosmic occurrences that run opposite to human perception and comprehension as a result of this specific programming. We mistakenly detect patterns in the spacing of stars and the planets in the solar system, seeing them as though they were arranged. The mind is predisposed to interpret things as statistically significant when they may not be. By referencing scientific discoveries, developed by great minds such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Isaac Newton, our understanding of the nature of our universe gets closer to a final equation to explain everything. By combining the general theory of relativity and Newton's laws of gravity, we could determine an equation that broadly answers the makeup of our universe. String theory is one of the strategies offered for developing a theory of everything, a model that represents all known particles and forces and would supplant the Standard Model of Physics, which can explain everything except gravity. Because of its mathematical elegance, many scientists believe in string theory. String theory is a theoretical framework in physics in which point-like particles are replaced with one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory explores how these strings travel through space and interact with one another. String theory is a framework used by physicists to describe how forces that are often thought of on a grand scale, such as gravity, may impact microscopic things such as electrons and protons. Numerous theories have been proposed that aim to supply an answer to mankind to the question of our existence. Will we ever find a final answer? According to physicists and astronomers, what we're looking for might just be at our fingertips. It's only up to the perception and realization of humanity that we as a species must understand our minds before delving into the nature of our universe. Employing concepts is only the start, but I strive to find answers in my own life by conscientiously trying to understand why I exist.

Despite its complexity, math is an entirely man-made concept. Without it, we wouldn't have answers to the questions we ask about our existence. It is man's way of finding answers to questions that the mind can not possibly comprehend. It is the language of our universe. The human mind comprehends mathematics by using representations to find the corresponding scale of numbers. It is possible to find the scale of an exponential amount of a unit in one space by applying units that we know the size of. For example, the number 500 does not have a relative size that we can comprehend. By applying a unit or reference object, we can decide the true size of the number. For example, a human mind can tell the difference between the size of 500 elephants versus the size of 500 oranges based on the references that we have acquired. Our curiosity for finding answers to the world's hardest problems always brings us back to mathematics. Various fields of science take advantage of math to help solve problems including chemistry, physics, biology, and astronomy. Math is not only the answer to the mechanics of our world but also the key to life and the universe as a whole. Through the use of mathematics and its loopholes, the human race has discovered the functions of atomic particles, quantum mechanics, and biological life. I love learning math so that I can use it in my everyday life. It gives me the answers I need to help me solve various problems that I encounter. For example, I approximate the total of my paycheck by multiplying the hourly wage by the hours that I worked that week. Without math skills and the steps I took to learn them over my childhood years, I wouldn't have the ability to do simple tasks in my everyday life. By breaking down the fundamentals of mathematics you find it's rather simple, being that it is a figment of the human mind. By simplifying math as much as possible, I often find fun and enjoyment in finding answers to problems in my own life. Math is the answer to solving the enigmas in our mundane and often tedious lives. The questions we ask and the challenges we face every day are simple boundaries that can be solved through the use of algebraic equations and a bit of luck.