My passion for arts & crafts and a nurturing teacher lead me to pursue a Biomedical Engineering degree. While at first sounding implausible, this fact is true and culminated in a journey of self-discovery. In 2015, I moved to Georgia and began middle school. My science teacher Ms. Coston was my beacon in an unfamiliar school system. She recognized my potential and personally advocated for my placement in accelerated classes. There, I better engaged and thrived in subjects that challenged me. Ms. Coston became my patient ear and listened to my pastimes. My favorite was arts & crafts. I loved showing her my craft projects. One day she asked me to try out for our school’s Science Olympiad team (SO - a team competition in STEM) . Though I was initially reluctant, she simply had to mention one try-out section included making crafts, and I was sold! Surprisingly, the science topics tested on the qualifying exams fascinated me. On the day of the try-outs, I easily finished the test and loved solving the challenging crafting puzzle. Two weeks later, Ms. Coston congratulated me with a big smile and welcomed me to her SO team. I not only participated, but excelled in SO for the next seven years. I delved deeper in high school, winning in events where I learned coding and the design process to build and test sensors, catapults, and bridges. I extended my learning in events like Anatomy & Physiology, Cell Biology, and Chem Lab. SO helped me discover my affinity for science, particularly medicine, and engineering. Combined with my compassion, I found a career that intersected everything I wanted — a physician-scientist. Physician-scientists utilize medicine, social science, and engineering to advance human health and revolutionize medical technology. Becoming a physician-scientist is not a straightforward, traditional career. Thus, I started early. I completed three high school engineering classes, where I learned the engineering design process, how to use certain tools, and certain programs like AutoCAD and Inventor. I received a NOCTI engineering credential certifying my foundational engineering skills. I took advanced classes like biology and anatomy & physiology and dedicated my summers to internships related to my future career. As a Research Assistant at Georgia Gwinnett College, I added alkyl chains to aminoanthraquinone to potentially improve its pharmaceutically beneficial anti-cancer effect and deliverability. Months later, I presented this research at the American Chemical Society Georgia Research Symposium held at Kennesaw State University and received first place, impressing the judges with my confidence and knowledge of the concepts behind my research as a rising sophomore. The next summer I shadowed a gastroenterologist at his private clinic, clerking patients and sanitizing rooms, and at a surgical center, where I observed EGDs and colonoscopies. I learned much about the medical school application process and what medical school was like from one of my co-workers, a medical student. COVID-19 did not stop me; I attended online webinars related to medicine and engineering. One mentioned Biomedical Engineering, a major that perfectly blended the curriculum embodied by my future career. Encouraged by my experiences in class, research, and patient care, I applied and was accepted to Mercer University as a Biomedical Engineering major on the pre-med track. The journey behind my career aspirations started with my passion for crafts and the encouragement of a woman who truly loved science. From there, everything snowballed and fell into place thanks to my ambition and never-ending search for the next opportunity. I hope to inspire and support young girls to pursue STEM, just as Ms. Coston and scholarship funders like you inspired me.

1) I do not deserve this scholarship. This scholarship must be given to the most unmotivated and dull person who has no major life goals. Our modern society, unfortunately, revolves around money. The money from scholarships help inspire people to continue their education. So wouldn’t it be the highest honor for a scholarship to inspire even the most apathetic person to learn? This scholarship, in short, deserves me. 2) I will set out to become a master procrastinator and spread my craft among other college students. Many will envy my straight Fs because F stands for fun, after all! Building a career isn’t for me. College is said to be “the best four years of your life,” so why not make college the entire rest of my life? I will forever enjoy endless parties, skipping classes, and being degree-free! 3) My PE coach once said the first person to volunteer for a demonstration would be exempted from today’s last exercises. My quick response granted me that honor. On the track, I broke into a world-record breaking sprint. I leaped over the first hurdle in one fluid motion. And promptly broke my ankle. That day, I overcame two obstacles: the high hurdle and having to do PE for a semester.

This summer between high school and college is an important interlude in my life. Being a person with big dreams, I am taking advantage of this time to plan how to achieve my top two future goals. First: becoming a physician-scientist. I am an incoming Biomedical Engineering major at Mercer University on the premed track. I’m excited to pursue this career to create affordable and accessible medical options for diverse and underserved populations. To get a better understanding of my future patients' needs, I enrolled in phlebotomy and CPR/First-Aid classes and will be a certified phlebotomist technician after passing the certification exam in mid-June. These credentials will help me gain clinical experience — a crucial component to any medical school application — and an income during the semester. I also hope to get involved in science and/or engineering-based research. I’ve set my sights on my college’s flagship program, Mercer on Mission. Mercer on Mission allows students to travel abroad to help an underserved community with the knowledge gained from their classes. Second: prioritizing my mental and physical wellbeing. I’ve begun using origami as a creative outlet to relieve stress. The activity instills patience, focus, and attention to details. I follow guides online to create a myriad of fun animals and designs that brighten up my room. Folding and creasing paper, transforming it into something beautiful relaxes me. For my physical health I jog or walk for twenty minutes then do exercises at dawn. This stimulates my body, making me feel more refreshed with endless energy to conquer what I have in store for the day. Summertime has allowed me to establish a routine with these two activities. A healthy body and mind significantly increased my productivity. I plan to continue prioritizing my health in college and beyond.

Rep. Sam Park, our district representative in the Georgia State Senate, took a flower bouquet and card from my hand in the midst of a standing ovation for his stunning speech. The card was signed by all eight members of my Model United Nations (MUN) officer team. With the bang of a gavel, I dismissed over 170 high school delegates from across Georgia to their committees, where my officers lead their committees as daises. Poking in and out of committee rooms, I witnessed the hard work we put in—writing background guides, training, advertising—all culminating in a smooth and fun experience for both them and their delegates. At the end of the day, when each dais presented their committee’s awards on stage, I felt proud. Proud of them for their tenacity that made our conference a success. As the President of my school’s MUN club, I served as the Secretary-General of GSMSTMUNCVIII, my school’s annual MUN conference. The prior summer, I organized our team and met in Panera Bread to delegate tasks and begin training. I directly handled school registration. When we were pressed to find a keynote speaker, officers sent out dozens of emails to potential speakers. One member received an email back from our district’s Rep. Sam Park. It’s thanks to our coordinated effort we secured an amazing keynote speaker, registered over a hundred students despite COVID-19, and managed the big day with no outbreaks or issues. Keeping in tradition, we dined at Dan Moo Ji to celebrate and bond over Korean food. With GSMSTMUNCVIII now behind me, I organize weekly MUN meetings, register our team for collegiate conferences, and help cultivate our members’ public speaking and diplomatic skills. My favorite part is seeing new members grow out of their shyness, as I did in my freshman year, to debate public policy and tackle tough global issues. Watching them win, learn, and simply have fun at conferences made me realize what being a leader means to me: Being a catalyst and inspiration for others’ growth. Public speaking is always hardest the first time. Sometimes I’ll convince shy members to stand up and speak with the promise of candy (an effective motivator!). When they finish, I initiate club-wide applause in recognition of their effort. In the next meetings, I’ll see them stand up to talk more often, learning to be comfortable in the spotlight. Being a leader, to me, is providing the environment and tools to help people become their best selves — and not only in public speaking but all aspects of their lives. In MUN, I trained officers to take charge of a full room. In my nonprofit Girls Tower High, I give technology and supplies to girls locally and abroad. In my library’s Teen Advisory Council, I coordinate intergenerational events that teach life skills and foster connections. These experiences taught me that being a leader means being an inspiration, an initiator, an impetus for personal growth. Because no one is perfect, I use these opportunities to better myself. I learned to give my team trust and autonomy to express and embed their ideas. I learned how to make tough judgment calls and be understanding to group members when they aren’t pulling their weight. Things happen, and as a leader, I’m responsible for adapting my team accordingly. The lessons I gained in high school taught me the qualities I need to be a successful leader wherever I go, whether that’s in my college’s MUN program or in a lab doing research. I hope to continue being a positive force that drives people to improve themself in every way.

Adventure, for me, comes in two different forms. The first is in the burning of my legs as I mountaineer up Georgia’s Stone Mountain, the Idanre Hills in Nigeria, and the Appalachians. The arduous climbs reward me with breathtaking views. Camping trips near Lake Lanier, an airplane over the Grand Canyon, and a boat drifting by Niagara Falls all let me bask in nature’s beauty. Although I enjoy quiet serenity, fast-paced watersports get my adrenaline pumping! I will never forget jet skiing and surfboarding, donning a triumphant smile with ocean wind tousling my hair. Rafting, kayaking, and canoeing with my family improved our teamwork. Like a bird with nothing but air and trees under my feet (and a safety net!), I ziplined in Mexico. The next items on my sight-seeing bucket list include visiting more man-made wonders around the world like the Taj Mahal and the Colosseum. The second kind of adventure involves me cuddled up with a book in Spanish and my friend’s authentic Chinese food on my lap. I want to try cuisines and understand cultures from around the world. So far I’ve experienced traditions from Mexico, China, India, Japan, France, Somalia, Ghana, and Spain. Many of the cultures on my bucket list are crossed out thanks to my friends, who are always excited to share their culture. In turn, I immerse them in Nigerian food and traditions. Languages are also on my list! I’m fluent in Spanish and Yoruba, working on Russian, and hope to start Chinese next. I also want to learn JavaScript for fun, since coding is the language of technology, and tech is the future. I’m proficient in Python. I seek adventure, for it challenges my physical and mental capabilities. Adventure helps me appreciate the beauty in the scenery and cultures of our world.

I didn’t have much of a summer in 2015. That summer my family moved from New Jersey to Georgia, where schools started a whole month earlier. There was little time for me to prepare for my first day of middle school in a new and different school system. Ms. April Coston was my beacon in this unfamiliar dark. She helped me navigate through and thrive in the many opportunities offered in my school. Opportunities I would’ve missed otherwise without her guidance. Ms. Coston’s comforting aura welcomed me the moment I stepped into her homeroom class. When I realized she taught my Earth Science class, I was delighted! In class, group discussions were my favorite. I would talk endlessly about the scientific topics behind our assigned prompts. But it soon felt like I was talking to myself; I was one of the few engaging in the classroom discourse. Naturally, I started to withdraw, and my responses became less and less. If I had remained in this environment, I most likely would have withdrawn completely from engaging in class. Looking back, my elementary school environment did the same to me - it stifled my growth because I felt like I was talking into a void. Ms. Coston pulled me aside after class in the second week. She spoke of my enthusiasm and participation in class in a way none of my elementary teachers did. Her encouragement empowered me. She offered to move me to a different class. I wasn’t sure what that entailed, but after a conversation with my parents I moved class periods. In this new class I thrived - my thoughts were challenged and discussed, and my peers were as collaborative and as curious as I was. I felt freer in the classroom more than ever - and I owe that to Ms. Coston. This first schedule change had a trickle-down effect in my other classes. I now found my math and language classes were much more mentally-stimulating. My Earth Science teacher’s observance did not stop at the classroom. She soon invited me to join our school’s Science Olympiad team. I had never heard of it before and I signed up for the tryouts. To my surprise and delight, I made it through the tryouts. Little sixth grade me did not expect I would love this extracurricular so much I would commit to it for another five years, all throughout high school. Science Olympiad allowed me to explore science without the restrictions of a school curriculum. Honestly, it’s where I discovered my passion for medicine, chemistry, and engineering. In hindsight, I suspect Ms. Coston’s keen eye noticed my gravitation toward the sciences and gave me the nudge I needed to find my own path. Her little nudges followed me all the way to high school. I was deciding on whether I should apply to the number one public school in my state or enter the traditional public school. I was scared I wasn’t intelligent enough to survive the school’s rigor. Ms. Coston vehemently disagreed. With her consistent encouragement, I applied and was accepted! High school is the bridge to higher education. My middle school education serves as the foundation for that bridge. Ms. Coston taught me to take all the opportunities I get. I took full advantage of that advice with advanced classes, internships, and fun extracurriculars in high school. Now looking into colleges I feel like I have so many choices because of the foundation Ms. Coston helped build in middle school. Thank you Ms. Coston - for your patience, enthusiasm, and support. Thank you for being my superhero!

"There ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you!" In my school's theater, my young voice sang the chorus of Marvin Gaye's and Tammi Terrell's (my namesake!) soulful song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" for my third-grade 60s/70s concert. Here I am, going to graduate high school nearly ten years later, still singing and dancing to this 60s track. For me, it's one of the few timeless songs that remain at the top of my Spotify playlist. The main lyric has kept me moving in life with a dance in my step and determination in my heart. I first heard this lyric in elementary school, a point when I wasn’t expected to figure out my direction in life. At first, this line was nothing more than another sentence in a song until I started exploring my academic interests in middle school. I struggled finding a passion I liked and delved into any activity I could. I treated my passion discovery as a journey, with all sorts of different terrains I could explore. The final destination was my passion — medicine. It took a lot of classes, labs, and internships for me to focus on this field. The words from this quote represented my wanderlust and inspired me to keep looking for my individual spark. Throughout my later years in high school, this quote has taken on a slightly different meaning to me as I faced more challenges. I encountered so many mountains, valleys, and rivers in high school. Mountains of challenging school work sometimes required late nights and early mornings studying. My lowest valleys in the form of bad grades and painful mistakes were sometimes hard to climb out of. I do all I can to wade my way through this long river of education. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”’s main lyric reminds me that I have the tenacity and endurance to reach my dream of becoming a research physician. I know the medical road is arduous and long. But this quote has me scaling up mountains, climbing out of valleys, and gliding through rivers I will face along the way.

Teamwork. A simple and repetitive lesson. But it’s a lesson I needed to be reminded of, especially in the context of STEM. The hanging mobile project was the most iconic Physics-Engineering project. Freshmen designed a mobile using physics concepts. We were judged on our mobile’s creativity and balance. I quickly found my group consisted of vastly different personalities. The deterioration of our teamwork began when we had to combine our designs into a cohesive design. Like our personalities, we clashed on every front — calculations, materials, and creativity. Our group kept pointing out each other’s design flaws and highlighting only the best in our own, creating a cycle of unconstructive critique that made us waste a project workday. When I saw other teams begin cutting materials I realized we let our different ideas be the catalyst to unproductivity, instead of innovation. I pointed this out to my peers. In solemn agreement, we resolved to come in tomorrow with an open mind. The shift in our discussion the next day was remarkable. We combined the best of each design and each member’s creativity. Together, we calculated and constructed. Once the last object was hung, we let ourselves and the teacher marvel at it. He said it was the most creative in the room. We high-fived and congratulated ourselves when we saw a 98 on the final grade paper. One person is never solely responsible for the greatest scientific and technological advancements. For the iPhone, it was Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall. For CRISPR, it was Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. These revolutionary technologies were the culmination of many people beyond these names. The most impactful STEM discoveries and creations occur when a team converges ideas, expertise, and knowledge. This is a lesson I still apply in my research, projects, and school.