Student profile
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
As I watched the water in the clear plastic bucket swirl around, spinning 360 degrees up and over the tour guide, somehow defying gravity, one word resounded in my mind: How? A display of the properties of centripetal force appeared to be a glitch to me, a malfunctioning component refusing to obey the rules of the world observed in my five years on Earth. Soon after, I experienced art for the first time. My dad and I walked into an art gallery, and I could not stop gazing at the mesmerizing works of art on the walls. Later that day, I eagerly found a piece of paper and a crayon and created my first art piece. Transferring my emotions onto paper, not with words but as abstract shapes and figures, was catharsis, propelling a deeply transformative experience unlike anything I had felt before.
These two fateful days set me on a path of questioning, designing , and inventing. Upon moving to America, my family could only afford a CRT television, yet nonetheless, I was enraptured. The vivid color and seemingly magical materialization of hues and sounds lingered in my mind. How could one create something that takes sound and images from the other side of the world and brings them into my living room? It was art -- the flow of color, dripping with beauty and emanating a soft, lulling glow. I would eventually learn about the cathode rays’ beams shooting electrons at lightning speed behind the, phosphor screen, and that union of design, physics, and engineering sparked my never-ending passion and curiosity.
I joined a STEM club at my middle school, which illuminated a world full of opportunities. Throughout high school, I participated in the National Engineering Design Competition, creating various devices, from a heartbeat monitor and alert system to a smoke and vape emission detector. I spent weeks constructing an inexpensive device that would be able to sense vape particulates, which in turn would allow the final product to detect when someone was vaping in a certain area. I coded, made errors, became frustrated, and then coded again, figuring out how to send the data to my phone. Using C++, I
coded a program and painted a pathway that would take the data from the Volatile Organic Compound sensor, convert it into numerical form, and give it a unit. The data was then sent to the main board, transmitted wirelessly to a server, and sent back to my phone and email in less than a second. Then, going through module after module, ranging from ESP8266 Wi-Fi modules to VOC sensors from Arduino, Grove, and Adafruit, I found the perfect one and when that *ping* rang from my phone, I felt chills. After our device, SAVED (Smoke and Vape Emission Detector), was implemented at our high school, administrators appreciated our campus evolving into a safer space and more enriching environment for students. The fulfillment of making a positive impact on my community galvanized me and gave me hope to create more devices to help others in the future.
Design and engineering form a unique amalgam, one that teaches more than just how to properly build a device or code modules and motherboards. These subjects allow me to enhance my inquisitiveness about how the world works and most of all, how I can improve it through the fusion of design and engineering. Seeing my devices sending notifications, alerting administrators, and creating change inspire me to further explore the possibilities of design and engineering. In college, I aim to found a club that revolves around engineering, design, and helping communities in need. Throughout my career, I aspire to invent life-saving devices and serve as the inspiration behind another child's enchantment by phenomenona like centripetal force.