My name is Temiloluwa, which translates to “God is Mine.” This name, rooted in my Nigerian heritage, reflects a culture rich in tradition, community, respect, and a deep commitment to Christianity. Growing up within this cultural framework has profoundly shaped my identity, influencing who I am today and who I aspire to become. In Nigerian culture, respect is not just encouraged; it is expected. As a child, I was taught to value the wisdom of elders, speak only when spoken to, and carry myself with humility. At church, these values were reinforced with mantras like “Focus," "No side talk," and "Eyes up front". Over time, I internalized these teachings as a call to silence. I became known as the quiet, obedient child who listened intently but rarely spoke. I cherished this image, believing my silence was a sign of respect and maturity, but it came at a cost. While others were forming connections, I remained an observer, retreating into my thoughts where I imagined different scenarios filled with the words I longed to say but never did. My mind was a constant whirlwind of ideas and observations, yet I kept them to myself. While my silence may have worked for the time I knew within myself I would inevitably need to become a person who acted not only intrinsically but also more vocally. First Phase: Middle school amplified my silence. “1..2..3..” I would count in my head, urging myself to speak, but more often than not, the words remained lodged in my throat, and I continued to retreat further into my own mind. I had taken my culture’s emphasis on respect and turned it into a cage, misinterpreting the boldness of my heritage as a command to remain mute. High school presented a turning point. I quickly realized that silence was a hindrance in an environment where social connections and active participation were keys to success. I presented myself with an ultimatum: break through this self-imposed silence or continue to recede deep into the workings of my own mind trapped with the longing of words never spoken on the tip of my tongue. Eventually my family began attending more events, where I encountered other Nigerians who embodied the vibrancy of our culture; people who greeted others with open arms, expressed themselves freely, and celebrated life with music, food, and laughter; people who ultimately did not at all favor silence but the overall continuation of the creation of the story of who Nigerians truly are. Second Phase: The internal counting that had once been my constant companion started to fade as I gained the confidence to speak up visible. 1..2.. 3.. didn't need to set a precedent for me to act, I gained the courage to run for my highschool wide elections in student council, spoke to my peers to rally support, and even secured the victory. I returned to church not with a silent note, but one where I now stand at the forefront of the big building, greeting with a smile the hundreds of people who walk in each Sunday. I discovered a side of myself I had never known— a side that was strong, articulate, and capable of leadership. As I approach the third phase of what I believe will be my true authentic self I now know how to combine the aspects of how I interpreted my culture into my identity. My rampant, observing, calculating mind has found solace in the patterns that are evident in computer science and my new outlook on my culture has instilled in me a budding courage that will continue to take me towards forging my own future path. My 1.. 2.. 3.. count no longer signifies fearful anticipation, but now represents the steady progression of my development— each step forward a testament to the courage I’ve gained.The field of stem is a very rewarding field where I will be equipped to learn a variety of different topics. I aim to complete all my classes in university to fulfill the requirements to earn my bachelors degree. Throughout college I want to seize all opportunities that come through my path whether it be an internship or opportunity to research how Electrical engineering can be used for creation outside of a classroom setting. Beyond my bachelors degree I aim to get a masters in Electrical and Computer engineering or Electrical engineering to work at the intersection of industrialization and technology, developing hardware systems or software interfaces that optimize production processes and make industries more efficient. For as long as I can remember I have known I wanted to work in the field of engineering, at first I believe my younger self simply saw my father how engaged he appeared when talking about working as an electrical engineer and knew that I wanted to emulate such a passion when I was older. As the years have gone by I have both held parts of the ideal life he appeared to have and adopted the passion to be my own. Building and creation have remained appealing to me, guiding me towards electrical engineering- a profession I interpreted to be built on innovation and design. I want to major in electrical engineering because my journey of discovery with STEM fields thus far has been an extremely fulfilling one.

My name is Temiloluwa, which translates to “God is Mine.” This name, rooted in my Nigerian heritage, reflects a culture rich in tradition, community, respect, and a deep commitment to Christianity. Growing up within this cultural framework has profoundly shaped my identity, influencing who I am today and who I aspire to become. In Nigerian culture, respect is not just encouraged; it is expected. As a child, I was taught to value the wisdom of elders, speak only when spoken to, and carry myself with humility. At church, these values were reinforced with mantras like “Focus," "No side talk," and "Eyes up front". Over time, I internalized these teachings as a call to silence. I became known as the quiet, obedient child who listened intently but rarely spoke. I cherished this image, believing my silence was a sign of respect and maturity, but it came at a cost. While others were forming connections, I remained an observer, imagining different scenarios filled with the words I longed to say but never did. My mind was a constant whirlwind of ideas and observations, yet I kept them to myself. First Phase: Middle school amplified my silence. “1..2..3..” I would count in my head, urging myself to speak, but more often than not, the words remained lodged in my throat, and I continued to retreat further into my own mind. I had taken my culture’s emphasis on respect and turned it into a cage, misinterpreting the boldness of my heritage as a command to remain mute. High school presented a turning point. I quickly realized that silence was a hindrance in an environment where social connections and active participation were keys to success. I presented myself with an ultimatum: break through this self-imposed silence or continue to recede deep into the workings of my own mind trapped with the longing of words never spoken on the tip of my tongue. Eventually my family began attending more events, where I encountered other Nigerians who embodied the vibrancy of our culture; people who greeted others with open arms, expressed themselves freely, and celebrated life with music, food, and laughter; people who ultimately did not at all favor silence but the overall continuation of the creation of the story of who Nigerians truly are. Second Phase: The internal counting that had once been my constant companion started to fade as I gained the confidence to speak up visible. 1..2.. 3.. didn't need to set a precedent for me to act, I gained the courage to run for my highschool wide elections in student council, spoke to my peers to rally support, and even secured the victory. I returned to church not with a silent note, but one where I now stand at the forefront of the big building, greeting with a smile the hundreds of people who walk in each Sunday. I discovered a side of myself I had never known— a side that was strong, articulate, and capable of leadership. As I approach the third phase of what I believe will be my true authentic self I now know how to combine the aspects of how I interpreted my culture into my identity. My rampant, observing, calculating mind has found solace in the patterns that are evident in computer science and my new outlook on my culture has instilled in me a budding courage that will continue to take me towards forging my own future path. My 1.. 2.. 3.. count no longer signifies fearful anticipation, but now represents the steady progression of my development— each step forward a testament to the courage I’ve gained.

My journey of discovery with computer science has been an extremely fulfilling one. Since I was first introduced to the field after my introduction to engineering class freshman year I felt as though the field spoke to me. Ive always been a person who enjoys observation, whos mind often travels to pondering the frame of the world around me, in my moments of observation i could think of how its fathomable for a plane to get off the ground, how tracking has been made a reality, how its possible for facial recognition on iphones to work, how through clicking of keys even now is whats allowing me to read the very words in my own head on a screen. This idea of creation has always fascinated me and I have made much progress in immersing myself in the field. My journey first began with my computer science one class, where i first was exposed to python and java, now, i'm on the track to completing all of the computer science classes offered in my school, taking level 3 and 4 concurrently. After my first year of computer science I pondered how I could gain more, I discovered a program called “Code2College” one summer and began taking their classes where they broadened my knowledge on coding languages through project making. I took the smaller elements of computer science and coding to create possible real world applications, such as a banking app, advocacy website, and a game. After a year of having some knowledge about computer science I realized I wanted to share this passion and teach it. I was employed at a company called best brains as the main coding teacher where I helped children from ages 6-13 learn to code on scratch and python. I felt a sense of pride when I saw that the children both understood and enjoyed the way I explained how code worked and could be used. I next took a Girls Who Code self paced course over summer in web- development, data science, and cyber security where I saw the implementation of code through a variety of different ways and it was once again reiterated for me that this field truly seemed to have no bounds. I entered my next year in these CS courses and saw the glaringly uneven ratio of girls to boys in my class. By the end of the school year along with another like minded friend we decided to brainstorm to establish our own girls “Girls who code” club. Our plans were successful and at our first meeting we had a show out of 20+ girls attend, here I deepened my interest in computer science through live discussions and debates with club members on hot topics like AI, Cybersecurity, the future of CS, and so much more. My latest and one of my now proudest is my completion of my first internship in software engineering where I was able to code as a creative outlet to help bring to life some of the company I interned at’s ideas through the creation of web pages on their mobile app. As of now I aim to become a person that has a hand in creating change. I want to get my Masters in either computer science or electrical and computer engineering. My ultimate hope is that one day I will be able to work in a field where I bridge together healthcare with technology whether it be creating hardware pieces to be used in hospitals, or coding interfaces to make the lives of doctors easier.