The intriguing nature of mathematics has always attracted me to study more and learn about how I can apply my interests to the world around me. This fondness for mathematics grew exponentially when I was introduced to computer programming. I could perform calculations at a much more rapid pace and automate several processes to create algorithms that would break down problems for me and solve them. By studying mathematics and computer science, I hope to apply my skills and interests to develop computer vision algorithms that will ease the time strain of many jobs. For example, as a student at AI Camp during the summer of my junior year in high school, I was allowed to work with a team under the supervision of a computer science graduate student and developer of an artificial intelligence project that would detect where a brain tumor was located in an MRI scan. Then we took the project one step further and worked on adding a feature for the algorithm to classify the detected brain tumor. Through this project, we developed a revolutionary new tool that would assist medical personnel in classifying brain tumors because it is usually done by hand. I plan to work in the automotive industry and design algorithms and AI models that will function in self-driving cars to increase road safety for all drivers. Similarly, using my skills in mathematics and computer science, I will be able to utilize tools in computer vision and other artificial intelligence fields to conduct research and develop products that will assist professionals in numerous areas. With a career in software development, I will also have the opportunity to work on meaningful projects with many different and diverse groups of people that offer differing perspectives to solve our problems. By working with many different people, I will be able to grow individually by learning skills such as communication and teamwork that will carry me further in my career. By developing alongside co-workers and using different approaches to tackle problems, I will be fully equipped to work with any team and build software products capable of revolutionizing our world through technology. The possibilities are endless in software, especially in such a technologically dependent world where I may solve many problems. Through interpersonal and professional skills that I would gain through my education and real-world experience, I would be qualified to positively impact the safety of our world and develop products to make manual labor more efficient.

My love for math started in high school when I walked into my freshman year math course, Honors Accelerated Algebra II. I loved how when I sat in my seat in the front of the class, I was at the forefront of my math journey, paving the way for me to continue studying math into college. I look back on my freshman year, and I see that my experience in math class has allowed me to become a more organized and logical thinker. It also imparted upon me the ability to think creatively on abstract geometry problems that my teacher, Mr. Eccles, would pose from time to time to stimulate our visualization skills. As I continued my math journey, I expanded my interest in competing in multiple math competitions in the North-Suburban Math League and the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In these math leagues, I can work with my teammates on challenging math problems in areas of algebra, geometry, calculus, and more. Even though we take our tests individually, I've grown to recognize that the learning environment we are placed in is everything that resembles a team. One geometry problem had us finding the maximum volume a cardboard cutout could hold. Working with my friend Spencer, we combined our specialties to solve the problem. Spencer's specialty was in geometry; he visualized the situation and drew diagrams. Where my specialty was in calculus, I soon recognized that the box he drew had side lengths that related to one another, and I was able to set up an equation to find the volume of the box and optimize the function. Studying math is not simply an individual journey but one filled with partnership amongst friends. Beyond my ability to think critically, I've also learned about communication and working towards our team's strengths. I can work with many people to optimize our team's productivity in many other math competitions like this box problem. I've learned to apply math to the realm of physics. I've learned to use math skills to apply them to the motion of objects in our world and the fundamental forces that govern our universe. I've understood math more profoundly by learning about mechanics, electricity, and magnetism, combining multiple ideas into derivations of electric and magnetic fields around objects. Math remains an essential subject to learn because it develops the ability to work with others and present your ideas clearly and concisely. Math was never about the fancy symbols you can imagine scattered over a college chalkboard. It is about how those fancy symbols tell a story about a problem we will solve. I love math because it provides me with a legend that I will seek out.

What started as a joke selling hats and shirts reading "The Boring Company" has turned into a fascinating idea to revolutionize the transportation industry. Elon Musk is known as the head of Tesla and SpaceX, but he is also the founder of the Boring Company. This revolutionary company seeks to dig underground tunnels to a new mode of transportation at higher speeds. Using a massive drill called the "Prufrock," massive tunnels wide enough to fit cars are created underneath the surface to provide a means of transportation for vehicles, gas lines, water lines, and more. The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop was one of the original projects of the Boring Company spanning a stretch of 1.7 miles featuring less than 15 seconds of wait time while transporting over 20,000 passengers per day. On top of the efficiency of transportation provided by commuters who can travel the loop at speeds up to 155 miles per hour, the LVCC Loop has dramatically reduced the environmental impact of transportation. As Tesla's vehicles provide the primary source of transport through these tunnels, the benefit of popularizing more tunnels is the allure of a more significant number of EVs, significantly reducing emissions and transportation times altogether. Compared to those in Boston, LVCC drivers spend about 20 minutes in traffic every day commuting. The advent of the tunneling projects of the boring company, which can transport not only cars but utility and freight, is astonishing. The Boring Company seeks to revolutionize the transportation industry through its massive drilling machines. The possibilities of such technology are immeasurable. By creating high-speed tunnels that The Boring Company can later optimize to fit public transportation needs, American society will be well-prepared for a revitalization of the public transportation system. This will provide movement throughout cities and surrounding suburbs for easy and affordable access. Where cities like New York and Chicago run massive public transportation, the introduction of boring tunnels would greatly assist the number of cars moving in and out of the cities every day and provide cheaper access to public transportation. The advent of such tunnels will also allow much greater flexibility with the transport of resources. Where gas and water lines run underground, maintenance requires difficult labor. By packing them underground, tunnels will keep resources running in one place and standardized infrastructure across a wider area. Additionally, cost plays an important factor in why power lines run overground. Running them underground would reduce the risk of electrocution when being worked on and clear up sidewalks and roadways. As an aspiring software developer, I am ecstatic about applying my skills to the transportation industry's future, especially by working on the hyperloop project. I'm looking forward to all the possible applications of the Boring Company and their numerous projects to purify the environment through transportation reform.

The meaning of life goes past any simple definition that Google can produce solely because life's significance goes far beyond its purpose. Sure, life is the distinguishing factor separating plants and animals from the inorganic. But it is the slow progression towards death that gives life its true meaning. In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago explores his life by following the Omens and realizing his passions by traveling the world and writing his "Personal Legend." The meaning of life is two-fold: explore your passions and write your destiny. Life is your opportunity to find the right balance for you. It is your invitation to live in the world between the dichotomy. As an aspiring software engineer, I've worked with logic doors several times, witnessing the either-this-or-that, but time and time again, I've seen the "and" condition. Life is that "and" situation, where you should aspire to enjoy this-and-that. People tend to role themselves into "right brain" and "left brain" people, but this distinction is irrelevant. When studying geometry concepts for math competitions, I encountered one trigonometry problem that I could solve using the Law of Sines, Heron's Theorem, or advanced area formulas. I wasn't bound to a singular approach but was free to explore many. Even the best mathematicians see their work as a creative art, and the best musicians dissect their music into timed work, counting every beat precisely as written. By following life's opportunities, I can live in the space between the extremes. Such places are where I can experience the beauty of the humanities and sciences, enjoy works of literature and music, and work in computer science and mathematics.

The tempo organizes the music at 120 beats per minute while playing between the staccato and legato notes. While I strike the keys with precision, the metronome in the background keeps me in check. Click. Click. Click. The creativity and self-expression I can show through piano have been vital to informing my relationship with math and science. Art and music have both had a profound impact on my perceptions of general STEM subjects through their emphasis on time, proportionality, and the canon of beauty. When learning about polar coordinates in my calculus class, I could tie in the Archimedean Spiral to concepts of perfect proportions that I've seen in the golden ratio, which reveals itself in biology through plant and animal life. This beauty that the Greeks and Romans had perfected for hundreds of years found its basis in proportionality, where the head and body must be in a 6:1 ratio. While analyzing Dali's The Persistence of Memory, I understood that the underlying theme of time and its consistency could be seen in numerous other facets of science. I've found such principles of balance in my chemistry and physics class with concepts of Conservation of Mass and Energy through balancing equations and the motion of systems. Whether in biology studying evolution, chemistry studying stoichiometry, or physics studying celestial objects, the concept of time persists. Where I've found music to be governed through timing and precision, so has evolution in the form of DNA replication, a hyper-precise process the body undertakes millions of times over, following an exact procedure governed through perfect timing. Through these many connections between art and STEM, both fields are lenses that I may employ when faced with a challenge. STEM was initially introduced as a rigid thought process and art as a fluid and creative mode of expression. I've learned to combine these into a magnifying glass to deeply explore new fields in history, literature, physics, and mathematics. Art has allowed me to expand and suitably deliver my thoughts and ideas with layers of depth. STEM has allowed me to refine my mode of thinking and explore science and technology analytically. Both hold significance in my life. They give me the freedom of choice by combining my varying interests into a toolkit to apply my skills to solve real-world problems. Whether it be learning about Leonardo Da Vinci and his multifaceted life in art and science or René Descartes and his work in philosophy and mathematics, I can study the art of science and understand how they viewed the union of art and STEM. My interest in physical art propelled me to apply computer science to computer vision artificial intelligence technologies. When I signed up for a summer research program through AI Camp, I collaborated with a team of data scientists around the United States to develop a website that utilizes artificial intelligence to detect and classify brain tumors from an MRI scan. By setting goals and creating open lines of communication, we successfully deployed our product after three weeks. After this program, I was invited back to partake in their internship program. I would work with senior software developers to publish a mobile application on the App Store to teach students the world interested in learning about Artificial Intelligence. Through these experiences, I grew in a collaborative environment by asking questions and always learning more. Most importantly, I learned to organize myself and keep track of my goals by creating plans to meet them. Furthermore, my interest in a future in computer science and mathematics stems from my passion for tutoring others in math and physics. As a tutor in my school's Learning Lab, I meet students every day to engage with and help them learn about math. Since I started learning, I've tried to make everything into a game. So I've applied my interest in board games and the tactical thinking involved to math, where I can interest other students by teaching them new ways to think about problems. When I was tutoring a student in Algebra, we reviewed concepts of graphic linear equations. So instead of defaulting to converting a standard form equation to slope-intercept form, we took a moment to stop and understand what information we could get from looking at the equation itself. In this way, we were able to find the intercepts of the equation and work backward to find the slope of the line, and work towards using this knowledge to find solutions to systems of equations. I hope to major in computer science and perform cutting-edge research in bioinformatics and computational and applied science as a college student. Additionally, I would like to apply my education to developing software for autonomous vehicles. I would also like to help other students discover their passion for math and science.