My story with the world behind the screen began with learning coding in middle school and blossomed as I found myself spending hours on crafting out the perfect piece of code. I truly had fun with it and still do. I think the trait of enjoying even the gruesome process of debugging and finding the right data structure, is what really makes me a software enthusiast. I have seized every opportunity that gave me a chance to grow my skills in programming, evidenced through the various courses and participations undertaken besides a bunch of internships since high school. The fact that I can create a real, working mechanism from an idea in my head is extremely fascinating to me. I've had multiple incidences of bringing vague elements of a program idea into a functional program, and seeing that program makes my eyes glimmer quite literally. One of the my dearest projects has been GroSave. Working on this project turned my life upside down in the best possible way. I was a sixteen-year old high school student, sitting home under the confinement of lockdown laws during the pandemic in 2021. That is when, I came up with the idea of "what if there was a mobile app that alerted you to use up your groceries before they expired?". And that was GroSave! I created an outline on a piece of paper for how it would look and all the functionalities it would have. I truly felt alive in that process, even though I was sitting in my room scribbling and making notes and designs. I could picture the "if-else" code loops that could hold this structure together. However, back then, I had no resources or contacts or mentors to help. Some grueling months later, I had acquired funding and investors after participating in a contest similar to Shark Tank, and I won this competition nationally. The jury was impressed and offered to help me bring the product to life. And on March 23, 2022, we (a group of teenagers) with the help of mentors in the corporate, launched the mobile app GroSave in India. We had also collaborated with charities to help people donate excess food which they couldn't consume before it went bad. That was a huge moment and I tasted the sweet fruit of utilizing technology for a noble purpose. The project and the app gained national recognition through media for a brief period and was being recognized for its noble ideation. We did not make any profits from it, but it helped people. It saved, at least some food, from going into the trash can. And that truly reflects my intention with using technology. If there is one thing I want to be known for in the tech field, it is for putting technology into ethical use and noble purposes. I believe in the magnanimous power of advanced technology, especially in today's day and age, and I'm confident that we need ethics in technology more than ever today. I seek to be that element and collaborate with brilliant minds in this industry to create wide-reaching impact and help improve people's lives. The entire process, uphill or downhill, of problem identification, algorithm formulation, and precise code-writing appeals to my most basic sense of joy and contentment. I intend to utilize this passion of mine and channel my ambition into the world of technology by getting cutting-edge education and working alongside stellar minds to contribute towards a collective effort to revolutionize technology and use it make this world a better place to live in.

I met multilingualism long before I named it. I was born in India, a land where more than 121 major languages are spoken. Now, as a student in the United States, I can step back and see what that really meant for me. My parents grew up in eastern India, where Bengali was their main language. Like many Indians, they also learned Hindi. After marriage they moved north, where I was born. From the start, my life split into an "inside" language and an "outside" one. At home we spoke Bengali; outside, it was Hindi or English. The regional differences were stark. The Punjabi spoken around me and the Bengali spoken at home were worlds apart-from phonetics to script. Yet rather than confusion, I found something richer, I witnessed languages mingling across contexts. My first words were Bengali. I attended an English-medium school where Hindi was taught as a second language. These three languages became my power trio and they still are the main three languages I use to navigate daily life. Looking back as an adult, it blows my mind how five-year old me knew how to speak three different languages and navigate linguistic systems without hesitation. In middle school I added Punjabi to the mix, even though no one in my family spoke it. I wanted to know the language of the state I lived in. My mother learned alongside me, treating it like any other subject I studied at school. Later in middle school, I discovered my school offered introductory French courses. I signed up and studied French for three years. Each new language broadened my world. I loved the thrill of encountering an unfamiliar, especially niche word and using fragments of the languages I already knew to explain it to my family and friends. My father shaped my mindset most deeply. He learned Punjabi in his thirties and would strike up conversations with native speakers. I watched how the mood shifted the moment he spoke their language. There was ease, an immediate warmth. Speaking to someone in their native tongue dissolved barriers and turned transactions into connections. I saw this myself in ninth grade at a science exhibition. Our team presented our project in English to dozens of visitors. One family stood out. The enthusiastic little boy's mother seemed disengaged; she did not understand English or Hindi well. I noticed her traditional Bengali bangles, just like the ones my mother wore. Taking a chance, I began explaining our project in Bengali. Her face lit up. What started as a technical explanation turned into a conversation about culture and life as Bengalis in Punjab. In my story, learning languages wasn't initially a choice, it was a necessity. As a child, when I felt sick at school, I knew how to say it in Bengali but my teacher needed English or Hindi. Translating my needs at four years old was tough, yet I understood that language was power. It was the bridge between isolation and understanding. Over time, what began as survival became identity. Multilingualism isn't just a skill I possess; it's how I see the world. Each language offers a different lens, a different rhythm of thought. Together, they've taught me adaptability, empathy, and the courage to step toward others in the words that feel most like home to them. Multilingualism didn't just find me at birth, it continues to shape who I'm becoming.

My sister often presents me with a question, "Shaina, how are you so passionate about coding, something that requires you to sit in front of the computer with a ton of patience and deal with bugs which never seem to end? Doesn't it get annoying?". My answer never changes, "I find it pleasurable to deal with those bugs you're talking about. I value the code I write, and therefore, I'm instilled with strong willingness to make it work the way I want." I really think that the answer to this question plays an essential role in distinguishing real passion from the urge to hanker after a reputed field of work. I truly believe that my love for coding is how real love looks like. You grow to love the parts which might not be as beautiful and lovable as the other aspects, but you keep loving with all your heart. This love comes from the power I get from knowing the skill of programming. The fact that I can create a real, working mechanism from an idea in my head is extremely fascinating to me. I've had multiple incidences of bringing vague elements of a program idea into a functional program, and seeing that program makes my eyes glimmer quite literally. It's that glimmer, that funny feeling in my stomach when the program executes - that's what motivates me and keeps me going. This ability to create gives me a reason to wake up every morning and leave an impression of my artful creations. Technology is a powerful tool, being strong enough to cause miraculous improvements or disastrous transgressions. The choice lies within the hands of the creator, and I identify myself as a software creator who thrives to make a positive change. I believe that I could be a powerful and appreciated asset to the society with my ingenuity combined with my altruistic intentions. This potential is exemplified by my creation of the GroSave app in the year 2021, when a space startup called, Space Kidz India, decided to invest in my idea and equip me with all necessary resources. The journey from a sense of helplessness due to lack of resources to launching the mobile application on digital platforms is a journey I've traversed, and it reassured me of my limitless longing to create something encompassing utility for all common folks. This endeavor also instantiated my entrepreneurial talents and interests, which I wasn't quite aware of, unless I stepped in as the Founder and CEO of GroSave. Throughout my high school, I gained appreciation galore about my writing and expression skills, I found people really connecting with pieces I write, whether they were my articles on Medium or the marketing content I put out for GroSave. I continue to write when I'm now in college, and also got the opportunity to make friends at The Triangle, the student newspaper body of Drexel University. I'm a fan of collaboration and networking, and try to socialize with people having similar interests in my university. I found that the best way to do that is to engage with student organizations like Drexel Society of Artificial Intelligence and Women in Computer Science (WiCS). Software development is a diverse and powerful field, and new inventions in this realm continue to fascinate me consistently. I like to read through press releases and documentation of technological accomplishments for inspiration comprehension of the ever-evolving tech world around us. And as a matter of fact, I myself want to fuel this technological revolution with my infinite ardor.