Ten years from now, I see myself building the kind of technology I once only imagined: an engineering-driven company using AI to solve problems that are too complex to fit within a single discipline. The idea began with a turtle hospital in Florida. Watching Zelda, a sea turtle whose illness was tied to environmental damage, made pollution feel less like a dataset and more like a crisis of empathy. I wanted to build something that could turn awareness into action. That instinct became TeenZee, a prototype social platform connecting Gen Z users with environmental volunteer opportunities. Building it taught me that an idea does not become impactful simply because it works. I began thinking beyond JavaScript: What makes people engage? How can technology sustain itself financially? How do partnerships and incentives transform a prototype into something millions of people can actually use? Ten years from now, I want those questions to guide my own company. **Years 1–4: Build the foundation.** I will study engineering with a focus on computer science, AI, and systems design while pursuing research in machine learning and intelligent computing. I want to develop the technical depth to understand not only how AI models work, but how they can be engineered to operate efficiently at scale. Alongside coursework, I will continue building prototypes, joining entrepreneurial organizations, and testing ideas outside the classroom. **Years 5–7: Turn prototypes into products.** After college, I plan to work as an AI or software engineer at a technology company where I can learn how large-scale systems are designed, deployed, and maintained. I will seek opportunities at the intersection of engineering and product development, learning how technical decisions interact with users, markets, and business strategy. During this period, I hope to identify a problem worth building around and develop a minimum viable product with a small team. **Years 8–10: Build the company.** By this point, I hope to leave traditional employment and found a technology company focused on applying AI to societal challenges, beginning with areas such as environmental sustainability, healthcare, or education. I want to build more than an impressive prototype. I want to create a sustainable organization with engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs working together to turn ambitious ideas into accessible products. My goal is not to predict exactly what technology will exist ten years from now. It is to become the engineer capable of building what does not exist yet. TeenZee taught me that innovation begins with imagining a different system. Engineering will give me the tools to construct it. Entrepreneurship will give me the means to make it last. Together, they can turn an idea on a screen into something that changes the world beyond it.

Some lessons are taught with whiteboards and worksheets. Others begin with a riot over Minecraft. When I launched a free coding class at the Orange County Rescue Mission, I expected to teach structured lessons on Scratch. Instead, I was met with twenty students chanting for Minecraft, my carefully planned curriculum dissolving within minutes. But in that chaos, I began to see something larger than a single class: a glimpse into how access to technology can reshape opportunity. Rather than forcing structure, I adapted. A simple game became the foundation for exploration, and soon students were not just playing, but building. Concepts like loops and variables transformed from abstract terms into tools for creativity. What mattered wasn’t mastery of syntax, but the confidence to create. Experiences like this reflect a broader truth: science and engineering are improving lives not only through breakthrough discoveries but through expanding access. Technology has the power to close gaps: giving individuals the tools to learn, solve problems, and make informed decisions in ways that were once out of reach. I saw this same principle from a different angle through my work in machine learning. Using public heart disease datasets, I developed a classifier that translated inputs like blood pressure, activity level, and age into simple risk estimates. The goal was not technical complexity, but usability; creating an interface that made health data understandable and actionable. While the model faced limitations, including bias in datasets and imperfect accuracy, it reinforced an important idea: innovation is most impactful when it meets people where they are. Across both experiences, the common thread is not the technology itself, but how it is used. A coding platform becomes powerful when it empowers a student to create. A machine learning model becomes meaningful when it helps someone better understand their health. Science and engineering improve lives when they are designed with accessibility, clarity, and real human needs in mind. Around the world, this approach is already reshaping how people interact with complex systems. From digital education platforms to predictive healthcare tools, engineering is no longer confined to specialized spaces. It is becoming more integrated into everyday life, equipping individuals with knowledge and agency. In my classroom, that impact was immediate. Students who had never considered themselves “technical” began teaching one another, debugging code, and sharing ideas. They were no longer just learning technology; they were using it to express themselves. That shift, from passive consumption to active creation, is where real change begins. Science and engineering make life better not only by advancing what is possible, but by expanding who gets to participate. Whether through a simple coding lesson or a data-driven health tool, their true power lies in their ability to turn curiosity into capability and uncertainty into understanding.