I grew up having to figure things out on my own. Nothing was ever handed to me. If I wanted something I had to build it. That is how I learned to create. I am a computer science student at Ohio State and most of my time goes into projects that I believe can actually help people. One of my biggest projects is Signara. It is an app that uses AI to teach sign language. I built it because I saw that learning ASL costs money and not everyone can pay for that. I wanted to make it free and easy to use. I had to figure out the models, the front end, and how to make it all connect. It was not easy but I kept pushing because I knew it mattered. I want to keep expanding it and build lessons that can help people all over the world. I also started NRST Studio. It is my agency where I build websites and tools. Out of that I made Resumee which turns a resume into a personal site. I made NRSTMail which lets people build emails with drag and drop. These projects taught me how to solve problems and keep moving forward even when I felt stuck. Each one showed me that I can take an idea and turn it into something real if I stay consistent. I had setbacks too. I lost friends. I dealt with depression. I was judged a lot. There were times I thought I was not good enough. But I did not quit. I worked harder and I kept going. That taught me resilience. I learned that failing is not the end unless you stop trying. Right now I balance school, internships, and running NRST Studio. I also work mornings at my mom’s daycare. It is a lot but it makes me disciplined. It keeps me focused even when I feel overwhelmed. My goal is to graduate, go into a master’s program, and keep working on security and accessibility. I want to build products that people actually use and that make life easier for them. What drives me is knowing what it feels like to not have access. I know what it is like to feel limited. I want to change that for others. This scholarship would give me the chance to focus more on school while still building tools that matter. It would take some weight off my shoulders and let me keep pushing forward. I believe in resilience, kindness, and self belief. I have failed and I have been knocked down but I always get back up. That is my story and that is who I am today.

My biggest dream is to build technology that truly helps people, not just for profit, but for purpose. I want to create tools that solve real problems, especially for those who are often left behind by the tech industry. Whether it is someone learning sign language, an artist trying to share their work, or a student who feels alone and unheard, I want my work to meet them where they are. This dream started in high school when I built a sealed eco bottle with sensors and a camera to track the health of a fish and plants. It was a science project, but it sparked something bigger. I realized that I could take things I was curious about and turn them into something useful. That feeling has never left. Now, as a computer science student at The Ohio State University, I have created projects like Signara, a real time American Sign Language learning tool, and Lyia, which transcribes lyrics from any song using AI. I run a small digital studio called NRST where I build tools for artists, nonprofits, and small businesses. I do not have investors or a big team. Just a deep desire to help others and the persistence to teach myself what I do not know. But chasing this dream has not been easy. Behind the scenes of all the work and projects, I have struggled deeply with my mental health. There have been days where I could not get out of bed, weeks where I felt like nothing I did mattered. I have dealt with overwhelming anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation. What makes it harder is that therapy and mental health care are expensive. Even when I know I need help, it is often out of reach. I have learned to carry on the best I can, but the weight is real. At the same time, I work early mornings to help my family, and I have taken on multiple jobs and responsibilities just to stay enrolled in school. I have had to say no to opportunities I was excited about because I simply could not afford the extra cost. I am doing everything I can, but it never feels like quite enough. Still, I have never stopped building. My plan to achieve my dream is to keep creating, keep learning, and keep sharing what I build with others. I want to turn Signara into a full platform that helps people learn sign language visually and interactively. I want to grow NRST into a place where other young developers can learn and launch their own ideas. And I want to build affordable tech that empowers people with disabilities, mental health struggles, and limited access to traditional tools. Winning this scholarship would be life changing. It would give me the breathing room to focus on my projects without constantly worrying about how to pay for school or therapy. It would give me the chance to pour my full heart into what I am building, to finally catch my breath and keep going strong. My dream is not just about code or careers. It is about connection, impact, and proving that someone like me, with a broken heart and a hopeful mind, can still build something that changes the world for the better. Thank you, Austin, for making space for dreams like mine.

I first got interested in computer science when I was a kid playing with a robot kit at school. I did not understand the code at all, but I loved the way typing a few lines could make a robot move or speak. That feeling stuck with me. I was drawn to the idea that you could build anything if you just figured out how to talk to the machine. In high school, I started learning programming on my own. I made a robot out of Lego parts and tried to give it commands using Java. I also built an eco bottle tracker, a sealed fish tank with sensors and a camera to track the health of the plants and the fish inside. I did it for a science fair, but it made me realize something bigger. I loved tinkering with real things and using code to make the invisible parts of life visible. Now, I am a computer science student at The Ohio State University. I have built dozens of projects, including Signara, a tool that uses AI to help people learn American Sign Language in real time, and Lyia, which transcribes lyrics from any song automatically. I also run NRST Studio, where I build websites and tools for small businesses, musicians, and nonprofits. But even with all this work, I still struggle to afford my education. My dream job is to lead a research-driven team or lab where we build software that solves real accessibility challenges. I want to keep building tools that help people feel more connected, more understood, and more capable. Whether it is through assistive tech, education tools, or AI-powered applications, I want to spend my career creating things that bring value to people who are often overlooked. I believe I am a strong candidate for this scholarship because I have never stopped building, even when things were hard. I grew up without a lot of money or support in tech, and I have had to teach myself most of what I know. I have faced rejections, failures, and financial pressure, but I keep learning and moving forward. Like Chris Jackson, I know what it feels like to struggle just to stay in school. But I also know what it feels like to help someone through something I built, and that is what keeps me going. Receiving this scholarship would allow me to worry less about how I will afford my classes and more about how I can keep improving the tools I am building. It would not just support my education. It would support my mission to use technology to make a difference in the world, one project at a time. Thank you for considering my story.

the most meaningful projects I have worked on was a real-time American Sign Language learning tool called Signara. I built it from the ground up with one goal in mind. Make learning ASL accessible, instant, and free. The idea came to me after thinking about how difficult it is to learn sign language through traditional methods. Most online platforms either cost money or rely on pre-recorded videos that do not provide feedback. I wanted to change that. I wanted to create something that worked with just a webcam and could recognize hand signs in real time. I started by experimenting with tools like MediaPipe and TensorFlow.js. I trained a custom hand gesture recognition model and connected it to a web interface that lets users practice different ASL signs. Once a sign is correctly detected, the app gives immediate visual feedback and tracks progress. It was not easy. I had to teach myself model training, frontend design, and performance optimization all at once. But I was obsessed with making it work. I tested it constantly, fixed edge cases, and made sure it was usable for someone learning sign language for the first time. When I showed Signara to friends, their reactions were priceless. Some of them had never seen anything like it. A few were even inspired to start learning basic ASL because it felt more approachable than any other method they had tried. That is when I realized this was bigger than just a project. It had real potential to help people. This was not my first passion project. In high school, I built an eco bottle tracker using a camera and sensors to monitor the health of a goldfish and its plant ecosystem. I wanted to see if I could turn a biology project into a data project. I wrote simple code to detect plant color changes and temperature shifts, and I tracked it all using a homemade dashboard. That experience was my first real taste of what it feels like to turn an idea into something that works. What inspires me most about working in technology is that it gives me the power to solve problems that no one else is thinking about. Whether it is making learning more accessible, supporting small business websites through my agency NRST Studio, or helping music artists transcribe their lyrics through tools like Lyia, I always find myself asking the same question. What can I build that would make someone's life easier? Tech is my way of helping. I may not have much money or connections, but I have curiosity, persistence, and the willingness to learn anything. That mindset has led me to create projects I never thought I would be able to finish. And every time I see someone smile or say “this helped me,” I know it is worth it. Right now, I am studying computer science at The Ohio State University. Balancing school, personal projects, and financial challenges has not been easy. But my passion for building keeps me moving forward. I know that with the right support, I can turn these small projects into full products that reach more people and solve bigger problems. This scholarship would give me the freedom to keep building without constantly worrying about money or survival. It would let me keep focusing on what I do best. Using technology to create things that matter. Because at the end of the day, I do not just want to code for a paycheck. I want to build things that leave a mark. And I believe that is exactly what Chadwick D. McNab stood for.

My love for hacking started long before I ever wrote a proper line of code. In high school, I built an eco bottle tracker. It was a small ecosystem sealed inside a bottle, with a goldfish, plants, and sensors. I added a camera and used basic detection logic to track plant health and monitor the well-being of my goldfish. I had no roadmap, just curiosity. I wanted to prove that with a little tinkering, even a closed ecosystem could become a data-driven science project. My teachers and classmates were shocked. I didn’t just decorate the bottle. I gave it a brain. and that same hacker spirit has followed me ever since. Now, as a computer science student at The Ohio State University, I build tools that merge curiosity with real-world impact. One of the best examples of this is Signara, a real-time ASL (American Sign Language) learning tool powered by AI and a webcam. Most sign language learning tools are either static videos or expensive. So I built something free and interactive. With MediaPipe, TensorFlow.js, and my own hand sign recognition logic, I trained the system to provide instant feedback on ASL gestures. It works like Duolingo, but for your hands. When I showed it to my friends and peers, the feedback was overwhelming. People said things like, "This actually works?" and "Wait, you built this?" The joy in their voices reminded me why I build in the first place. Not just to create, but to surprise, to teach, and to delight. That energy carried into my next project, Lyia. It is a tool that listens to music and transcribes lyrics in seconds. I used AI models like Demucs to separate vocals and Whisper to generate clean transcriptions. Then I wrapped it in a simple frontend where artists could paste a YouTube link or upload a song and get readable lyrics. It felt like magic to them. But to me, it was just another late-night tinker session turned into something useful. Through my self-founded studio, NRST, I have built dozens of tools like this. Everything from a resume generator for job seekers, to a drag and drop site builder for artists, to a frat event ticketing system that tracks check-ins, payments, and rewards. Most of these ideas didn’t start as full projects. They started as questions. What if? Why not? Can I build that? Hacking, to me, is just curiosity with follow-through. I do not come from money or from a tech-connected family. I have faced rejection, financial setbacks, and burnout. But I have always kept building. Not because I had to, but because creating is the only thing that makes me feel in control. I will stay up for days trying to solve a problem no one asked me to solve. I have never needed a roadmap. I just needed a reason. Winning this scholarship would mean I can keep doing what I love. Building tools that push the boundaries of what is possible, helping others while chasing the same spirit that Kyle Lam lived by. I would use it to invest in better tools, pay off my tuition, and finally get some breathing room to keep going. Because at the end of the day, I do not just want to work in tech. I want to make tech feel human. And I think that is what being a hacker is all about.