Empowerly

Student profile

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.  

“Oh, don’t worry about coding. Why don’t you work on designing the Powerpoint? Make it pretty!”

I was on a hackathon team with four boys, working to bring our website to life. Despite my experience building websites, my team members continuously ignored me each time I offered suggestions, clearly doubting my technical abilities. Although disappointed by my robbed learning experience, I felt more infuriated that the boys wouldn’t take me seriously simply because of my gender. From then on, I set my sights on encouraging girls to pursue their ambitions in any field they choose, just as I plan to do with computer science. 

Despite attempts to bridge the gender gap, the blatant sexism present in STEM industries is shocking. Inspired by how “Girls Who Code” helps motivate aspiring engineers, I started teaching computer science to girls with limited access to technology. I applied for a $3,000 grant from NCWIT to fund [name]  STEMGirls, an after-school initiative that made my dream of empowering young women a reality. After ordering supplies for over 70 elementary school girls, I drew upon what I learned from self-studying and personal “Girls Who Code” experiences to teach classes ranging from Scratch to Python. I loved creating a collaborative, encouraging atmosphere at [name] : strikingly different from the dismissal I often felt in my male-dominated STEM classes.

Coding tutorials and online classes taught me principles and concepts: the how. Teaching at [name] showed me real-life applications: the why. As I watched hopeful students create projects like Scratch games about giants helping their neighbors or talking refrigerators raising awareness about malnutrition, I truly saw “girl power.” Armed with confidence and code, each small victory in class brought students closer to seeing themselves as programmers with real futures.

From teaching future engineers at [name] to encouraging neighborhood girls to pursue STEM through robotics, I seek to remove the stigma attached to girls in technology. I want a world where my future daughters have the same opportunities as boys; where either in the workplace or at a hackathon, they won’t be asked only to make a pretty Powerpoint. 

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Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.  

I have always looked to the ordered patterns and trends of biology to make sense of the world around me. I imagine life as an incredible system of interrelated needs and ideas. Why do we look the way we do? What is our role in nature? How does our biological composition affect our future health? Answers to these questions lie within us, tucked away into every cell in our body. Biology is how we dissect the internal forces that drive and shape our futures, from daily activities to life-changing decisions.

I’m most drawn to studying the infinite ways molecular mechanisms propel life, and I try to share my love of biology’s intricacy with others. When I led our school’s Spring Open House, I performed a simple DNA extraction lab to inspire incoming students to take AP Biology. Although handling cups brimming with saliva wasn’t exactly appealing, it was well worth it to see the fascination on visitors’ faces as they watched their own extracted DNA twisting and turning into a helix, coagulating right before their eyes.

Though biology enthralls me with its complexity, I’ve also found it can comfort me by allowing me to explain my thoughts and emotions in simpler terms. Whenever I feel anxious or depressed, I break these feelings down into biochemistry - my body’s levels of glucocorticoids, catecholamines and other neurotransmitters. Knowing that my emotions have natural explanations comforts me and gives me the confidence to confront my problems. My self-diagnoses explain that what I feel isn’t unusual or wrong, and help me learn how to move past my anxiety.

Beyond simply being able to interpret my emotions in an individual context, advances in biology have made significant contributions worldwide. Biological progress has helped us redefine medicine, bringing about a dramatic progression over time from simply treating symptoms in the Middle Ages to modern society’s preemptive disease prevention. In studying the ways that biology logically defines life, I hope to create medical devices that use biology’s natural patterns to solve some of life’s most interesting questions. 

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What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?  

Blessa is an eight-year-old Cambodian girl, abandoned by her mother and raised by monks. My club, MSJ Stop Hunger Now, sends her temple hundreds of packaged meals annually. Last year, her temple wrote us a letter explaining how eager Blessa was to learn how to read and write English. Months later, Blessa wrote her own letter thanking us and excitedly detailing her dream of teaching underprivileged Cambodian children. Although Blessa is thousands of miles away, computer science has made the entire world my community. Stories like hers are why I work to serve the disadvantaged.

Growing up, I observed that many nonprofits had limited reach due to low membership and public awareness. At the same time, I was teaching myself basic HTML/CSS, instantly falling in love with coding and building beautiful websites. 

After realizing how influential programming could be, I set out to help these same nonprofits with my newfound knowledge. I was particularly drawn to Gifts of Awesome’s mission to nationally sponsor community service projects. When GoA struggled to find new service opportunities, I spearheaded several web-based projects to increase its online presence. With the new GoA website I built, I showcased hardworking volunteers and community service efforts ranging from senior care to clean water initiatives. As a result, word spread quickly, resulting in new volunteers and incredible projects! 

After I co-founded MSJ Stop Hunger Now, I realized our low volunteer numbers were preventing us from reaching our target number of meals. I created a website to publicize our mission, complete with photos of members hosting “dance parties” while packaging thousands of meals. The idea that our club’s community service could simultaneously be entertaining and save lives was extraordinary, and motivated dozens of students to join and help us make a difference locally and globally.

I’ve seen computer science’s considerable potential first-hand. Programming fosters opportunities to inspire good in others and creates a powerful ripple effect that improves people’s lives around the world. I still work on these same websites today, determined to raise awareness and help more people like Blessa overcome difficult circumstances to fulfill their potential. 

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What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?      

It’s 2009, and in the middle of a cramped, dimly-lit apartment, class is in session. Professor Gupta starts her English lesson, based heavily on what she learned earlier at school. Her students, none other than her parents, wait eagerly (at least in her mind) to take notes. Of course, nepotism wouldn’t prevent the professor from charging tuition - $1 per person!  

I became a teacher out of necessity. After we immigrated to the U.S., my parents struggled with speaking an unfamiliar language in the workplace, inspiring me to host family English lessons. As quickly as these lessons became a tradition, I grew to love helping people understand subjects the way I do. Ever since, I’ve done my best to share knowledge, from guitar lessons in my garage to coding classes at libraries.

I teach students skills they need to find answers for themselves: tools for their toolboxes rather than an entire house. Ultimately, however, the will to acquire new skills comes from passion. I try to inspire students to look beyond rote memorization and grow to love learning.

One of my library students, Kayla, loved coding but felt out of her depth while developing her programming project. Her frustration even prompted her to consider quitting the class. Hoping to help her rediscover her original reasons for wanting to learn, I showed her my portfolio, from my first crude webpage to my latest fully-functioning website, and explained: 

“Every bug you encounter is an opportunity to improve as an engineer.”  

Kayla focused on why she started coding - to raise awareness about global warming through educational games. Weeks of debugging later, she confidently presented her completed project to supportive peers and one incredibly proud teacher.  

That was a year ago. Kayla still comes to every coding session, but instead of sitting with other students, she’s at the front teaching with me. She insists on learning the ropes, hoping to keep classes up-and-running after I graduate. Students like Kayla and their passion may not be the reason why 9-year-old Savvy started teaching, but it’s why I plan to continue for a long time. 

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Additional Info Paragraph: 

Throughout high school, I battled anorexia, an eating disorder that peaked during my junior year. As a result, I suffered from malnutrition, anxiety, and depression, leading to grades that definitely did not reflect my true abilities (especially in first semester junior year). Last December, I collapsed from malnutrition after not eating for three days and landed in the hospital to treat both my undernourishment and a concussion I sustained in the fall.

After a disorienting, frightening week at the hospital, I could no longer ignore the damage my eating disorder caused on my health, academic performance, family, and happiness.

I am grateful for the love and support of my family and friends and access to healthcare that has encouraged my recovery over the past year. Although the recovery process itself is still a journey, I am now in a healthy place both physically and mentally, and I feel in control for the first time.

My battle with anorexia has sparked my desire to help other girls who struggle with their self-worth. I have no doubt that I will continue advocating for female-empowerment, both in STEM and otherwise.