Growing up I never realized that it was breaking the mold for a woman to go into STEM. I was homeschooled by my mother who had graduated from college with an electrical engineering degree, same as my father. My best friend's mother and father were also both engineers. In fact, as a child, I believed everyone's parents were engineers, since that was what I knew. I knew nothing of women battling for their place in the classrooms and labs. What I did know was that science and math were emphasized to me from a young age, and technical and critical thinking skills were discussed often. So it was to no one's surprise when I decided to study a technical field. Emboldened by my experiences, or lack thereof, I went off to college to pursue a degree in Physics. I knew logically that STEM was a field dominated by men, but not by any experience of mine. Then, my first day of class, I was faced with a small classroom of approximately 40 students, only 6 of whom were women, including myself. I didn't think much of it at the time, but eventually I realized that something was off about the environment. Three years later, I still can't put my finger on it, but I know it's there. That underlying knowledge that I am a woman and therefore I am different. The expectation I place on myself that I cannot let the men know I make mistakes. I refuse to speak up in class, to expose my errors, for fear that I might further contribute to the accusation that "women don't belong in STEM." I and my other female classmates have this feeling that if we aren't doing perfectly, we're not just struggling with hard material like normal humans, we're letting down the female sex entirely. As I continue towards my degree, I am intimidated. I truly love physics and the material I am learning, but I sometimes look longingly at some of the engineering fields that are less dominated by men. However, to let myself back down would be a failure to myself, and to the next generation. As my mother tells me about being one of two women in her entire class, I become very aware of the fact that the greatest thing I can do to help the next generation of women is to help continue down the path my mother and the women before her started. I don't have as many major career aspirations as I used to. Nowadays, I want to work on something I enjoy, but focus on building a happy and loving family. I don't want to have to be "spectacular" to be a woman in STEM, I want to just be normal. I want to show my daughters that they have a right to be in whatever field they choose; that woman don't have to be doing better than the men just to be there. I hope that my daughters will also be personally ignorant of the struggle many women faced in STEM, and will never have the realization I did. This, I believe, is my greatest possible contribution to any field.

A letter to math: Dear Math, I'm sorry I used to hate you. Algebra, I'm sorry I thought you were boring, complicated, and useless. Geometry, I'm sorry I judged you and thought you were dumb for having me proove a triangle was a triangle, instead of realizing you were challenging me to grow and think. I'm happy to say that I've learned a lot since then. Thank you pre-calculus for opening my eyes. Thank you for opening the door to the truth of math, and its representation of everything. Thank you for helping me see past the late night homework and stressful tests to your beauty. Thank you trigonometry for helping me see connections in the world I never knew were there. Thank you calculus for showing me movement, encouraging me to choose science, and to choose physics. Thank you differential equations for showing me change and motion. Thank you linear algebra for showing me how the same thing can be represented in so many different ways. Thank you physics for being math, wonderful and complicated. Thank you math for showing me a million different ways to see the world. Thank you math for teaching me how to think and be logical. Thank you math for being beautiful. Love, Me

I was raised in a very Catholic and pro-life household; from a young age I would pray for the protection of the unborn, both privately and in front of clinics, and learn about the value of life and the importance of truly helping those women who see abortion as their only option. However, two major experiences have truly helped me see the value of the pro-life stance, as well as what it means in real life. When I was ten years old my cousin had a shotgun wedding. Unfortunately, her husband was still finishing school while she was working full time, and as such they did not have the means for childcare. My mother offered to watch the baby for free full time, while still homeschooling her own three children. She took on that extra challenge, telling me how fifty years ago a women's family and community would step up and help in that exact situation, and she felt she could do no less. This was a formative experience in my life, and is a reminder that truly advocating for truth and goodness comes with sacrifice. My second experience has been watching a dear friend of mine run the pro-life club at her Catholic college. My friend is not personally religious at all but was able to put all of that aside to fight for something that she believes in. Watching her fight for pro-life from a secular standpoint was both encouraging and enlightening towards the truth. It helped me to see this as a fight not just for religious beliefs, but as truly fighting for the lives of human beings. This has all inspired me. While I do not run a pro-life club, or anything such as that, I make a point of attending pro-life events, especially in my area. I try to invite as many people as I can to these events, offering rides so that everyone can see the importance of every life. I run the Catholic women's group on my campus, which allows me to educate women about many things, but certainly including abortion, abortifacients, euthanasia, and other human life issues. I try to advocate for the unborn, even in my incredibly pro-choice environment. I try to make my voice heard as a woman who values both her body, and the lives of unborn. While none of my affiliations are strictly pro-life, I do my best to let my beliefs seep into my everyday actions and encounters. My acknowledgement of the dignity of every human life should affect all of my interactions, and I try very hard to let it. Ultimately, I try to share how the pro-life stance does not just stop at unborn babies. I make my stance clear on the dignity of every person, including the elderly, disabled, mentally handicapped, imprisoned, and those who are least able to fight for their rights.

I will contribute to science through my work. I am currently partaking in undergraduate research in the field of quantum computing. I am dedicating my time this summer to learning how to read papers on the topic and recreate some of the results myself. These tasks have challenged me in new and exciting ways, pushing me to become a better scientist and think more critically. While I have certainly been struggling in this research, it has been very exciting and fulfilling. I am having to learn completely new concepts and change the way my brain thinks about old concepts, but I know this is the preparation I need if I want to do anything scientifically meaningful. Through this work, I plan to gain experience in the field of quantum computing and pursue a career in it. I will help push the bounds of what is possible with a quantum computer and work toward quantum supremacy. I will contribute to science through my mindset. In physics, a mindset of learning and pushing through is essential. Even when I feel like I will never be smart enough, or my memory is not good enough to study physics, I remind myself to keep pushing through and that I can figure it out. Through this mindset I will help encourage others, especially women, to not abandon their love for science. The community at my school is mostly men, but the women who are here have found our own community in each other. We work together to encourage each other and keep each other accountable. It is incredibly challenging at times, but always incredibly worth it. Most importantly, I will contribute to science through my impact on the next generation. One day, when I have children, I will instill in them the same love of science and learning that my mother instilled in me. I will teach them to reach for the stars and settle for nothing less. I will live as an example to them and their peers that women do belong in science, and to not let anything deter them. I firmly believe that my contributions to the next generation will be greater than anything I can do directly in the field of science. However, it is only by pursuing my career and knowledge in physics that I can acquire the knowledge to truly have an impact. By furthering my education and starting a career, I will be able to educate the next generation and help them get to the stars.

Computers run on 1’s and 0’s. Growing up with electrical engineers as parents, this was drilled in my head. On or off, 1 or 0, the world runs on a completely binary system. But that could very well change within the next few decades. Quantum computing uses the different particles that make up atoms, and their individual qualities. The use of these different qualities, such as spin or orientation, means it can represent 0 or 1, combinations of and in between the two, and even more numbers. This allows for much greater processing power, giving computers the ability to complete even more work, and “think” faster. I’ve grown up learning about the binary system of the world, but it won’t stay that way. Now I could have the opportunity to change the way the world runs. It’s something so completely different, something that changes the way I can see the world, and I can’t help but be fascinated by it, and the many opportunities it lends us. The US is leading the way in quantum computing, and I don’t plan on missing out. I want to work in the industry, and head a research and development team for the creation of quantum computers. But I can’t get there without learning about it first. That is certainly going to be a challenge. It's not an easy topic to study, and it'll take a lot of time, work, and perseverance. Many people in my life won't think I can do it, but their doubts have never stopped me before, and I won't let them stop me now, not when I have to much to gain. I see my future, and it's bright. I know I'll face many difficulties, and I'll have to make sacrifices in plenty areas of my life, but those are sacrifices I'm prepared to make. Essentially, I plan to change the world. There is so much potential, so many things to create and even more things to learn. Every step we take forward opens up more doors to new and exciting possibilities. I have never been one to miss out on new opportunities, and I will certainly not be starting now. So yes, while I will certainly be facing many challenges in my path, I have the perseverance and determination to make it past them. One day, the world will run on much more than just 1's and 0's, and I'm going to help us get there.

1: I deserve this scholarship because I want to be able to travel somewhere next spring break and I need money for that! And because I haven't been able to get any other scholarships so I should really really get this one. 2: My academic goals are to drop out of college and become a trophy wife! As soon as I find a rich man I'll marry him and then I won't have to go to school and I won't have to work and it'll be great. My career will be in spending money, since that's what I'll be doing. 3: I've never overcome an obstacle in my life. Never once. I've never had to work hard for anything, definitely not to graduate high school with a 4.3 gpa and become a physics major in college. That was all easy as pie.