For sixteen years, I was used to a school environment where everything was known. AP Biology was a particularly interesting class because I learned how tiny molecules could affect the entire body. Intrigued by this class, I was eager to conduct angiogenesis research at the University of California, Irvine. However, I was surprised by how different cancer research was from AP Biology. In AP Biology, I was comfortable searching “photosynthesis and temperature” and finding thousands of sufficient articles. However, when I searched “Slug fibroblasts angiogenesis,” I was only able to find a couple of relevant scientific journals, all of which were written in part by Dr. Christopher Hughes, the principal investigator of the lab I interned in. This experience frustrated me because I didn’t have much background information for my research poster. Nevertheless, I also realized how much is unknown, how scientists can discover the unknown, and how engineers can create devices that use newly discovered scientific knowledge to help society.
Before the internship, I took many medical technologies for granted. For example, I’ve now realized that antibiotics didn’t exist a century ago; I’m thankful that antibiotics saved my life and the potential need for an amputation when an off-leash pitbull bit my hand, wrist, and hip in the park. Overall, this realization motivated me to want to learn more about science’s newest discoveries so that I can engineer the newest technologies that treat cancer, illnesses, and other diseases to help people like me continue living normal lives.
To me, learning isn’t limited to academic learning. Through attending Ocean View High School, I’ve learned more about my community and myself, inspiring me to encourage others to pursue learning through higher education.
This year, I was devastated when a good friend dropped out of high school. I knew that he was struggling to keep up in his AP classes, but I never thought that he would drop out of school altogether. Oftentimes, I feel at fault when I see or hear of teen pregnancies, drugs, and other issues, especially when I know these people well. At Ocean View High School, I became inspired by those who have overcome their economic, discriminatory, English language, and/or family hardships to succeed. However, as some failed to overcome these challenges, I had to learn how to overlook feelings of inadequacy and instead focus on potential and success.
Watching others endure hardships at my school has increased my appreciation for my ancestors who faced similar challenges. For example, my grandmother on my father’s side experienced gender discrimination due to traditional Japanese values. She and her sisters constantly maintained the apartments that my great-grandparents owned, while her brothers, who did little to contribute, were the only ones to inherit the properties. Similarly, many of my female classmates face Latino customs that value early motherhood over pursuing a college education. Moreover, my grandmother on my mother’s side faced strong anti-Asian societal attitudes, especially when WWII broke out and propaganda likened Japanese Americans to savages and animals. Likewise, many of my Latino classmates are referenced at local school district board meetings as people “with low moral character” who are “destructive to America” and should be “quarantined in schools.” Witnessing these challenges and understanding the connection to my ancestors has increased my appreciation for those who fought for my equal opportunities as a female Japanese American. It has also increased my desire to help my classmates gain opportunities that they otherwise would not have access to.
By forming a school club during my sophomore year called Engineering the Community, I combined my passion for STEM with my desire to help my Latino peers. I collaborated closely with the Scholar’s Hope Foundation, a nonprofit that helps local economically disadvantaged youth academically. As high school interns, we tutored Scholar’s Hope sixth-graders in small groups weekly after school in college- and career-readiness classes, vocabulary programs, and math. As a result of weekly math enrichment, Joel, a participant, was recently accepted into his school’s magnet program; he is now taking seventh-grade math and is a year ahead of his classmates. Furthermore, I’ve since been promoted to Scholar’s Hope’s SAT math instructor, where I weekly teach an SAT math class of about 20 Scholar’s Hope juniors.
Additionally, the club hosted the iEngineer program, an after-school enrichment program where club members worked with the same Scholar’s Hope sixth-grade students to promote engineering as a career. I worked closely with Mrs. Diaz, the Scholar’s Hope middle school coordinator, to develop the iEngineer agenda with lesson plans, hands-on activities, and guest speaker engineers. During the program, fifteen club members mentored groups of about three students through simple engineering projects such as formulating disinfectants and designing rockets and kites. In their groups, students learned engineering basics by using teamwork to create successful projects, like high-flying rockets. Additionally, engineering students from the University of California, Irvine, discussed engineering in college, and a Latina engineer spoke about engineering and the importance of minority representation. Students learned a lot from the program; in a post-survey, students replied “it made me like science more,” “I learned that if we work together we can make things better,” and “I learned that anyone can be an engineer and there are many ways to solve a problem.”
My realization of the connections between the hardships of my ancestors and Latino classmates increased my understanding of myself and others; it also sparked my desire to make positive change in my community by promoting minority STEM representation. I have a better understanding of the challenges that my ancestors faced due to witnessing the challenges of my classmates, and I also have a better understanding of the potential that my Latino peers have to become successful members of society, as my grandparents did. While I know that some like Jesus will fail despite my efforts, many like Joel have taught me that greater societal integration will one day become a reality for Latinos, as it did for the Japanese.
Word count: 997 (hyphenated words counted as one word)
By forming a school club during my sophomore year called Engineering the Community, I combined my passion for STEM with my desire to help my Latino peers. I collaborated closely with the Scholar’s Hope Foundation, a nonprofit that helps local economically disadvantaged youth academically. As high school interns, we tutored Scholar’s Hope sixth-graders in small groups weekly after school in college- and career-readiness classes, vocabulary programs, and math. As a result of weekly math enrichment, Joel, a participant, was recently accepted into his school’s magnet program; he is now taking seventh-grade math and is a year ahead of his classmates. Furthermore, I’ve since been promoted to Scholar’s Hope’s SAT math instructor, where I weekly teach an SAT math class of about 20 Scholar’s Hope juniors.
Additionally, the club hosted the iEngineer program, an after-school enrichment program where club members worked with the same Scholar’s Hope sixth-grade students to promote engineering as a career. I worked closely with Mrs. Diaz, the Scholar’s Hope middle school coordinator, to develop the iEngineer agenda with lesson plans, hands-on activities, and guest speaker engineers. During the program, fifteen club members mentored groups of about three students through simple engineering projects such as formulating disinfectants and designing rockets and kites. In their groups, students learned engineering basics by using teamwork to create successful projects, like high-flying rockets. Additionally, engineering students from the University of California, Irvine, discussed engineering in college, and a Latina engineer spoke about engineering and the importance of minority representation. Students learned a lot from the program; in a post-survey, students replied “it made me like science more,” “I learned that if we work together we can make things better,” and “I learned that anyone can be an engineer and there are many ways to solve a problem.”
My realization of the connections between the hardships of my ancestors and Latino classmates increased my understanding of myself and others; it also sparked my desire to make positive change in my community by promoting minority STEM representation. I have a better understanding of the challenges that my ancestors faced due to witnessing the challenges of my classmates, and I also have a better understanding of the potential that my Latino peers have to become successful members of society, as my grandparents did. While I know that some like Jesus will fail despite my efforts, many like Joel have taught me that greater societal integration will one day become a reality for Latinos, as it did for the Japanese.
Word count: 997 (hyphenated words counted as one word)
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