Being first generation in the United States, especially being raised in NYC, I’ve seen both my parents work tirelessly since I was born. From my father working upwards of 80 hour week, sometimes while fasting for Ramadan, and my mother working full time while caring for four children, my parents have given me something other kids could only dream of. Opportunity. The opportunity to pursue my own endeavors. But despite the tireless work of both of my parents, there are still hefty limitations on what I can do, limitations that forced me to start working at 12. But limitations are meant to be broken, and the one message my parents have instilled in me from a very young age is that despite everything that happens, hold onto your education, because no one can take that from you. Learning with the purpose of pushing the envelope and creating innovative solutions to solve the problems that plague humanity, no matter how small or large starts with education. In my community, I frequently see students ditching school or sleeping in class, and to me I cannot fathom how someone can light on fire the opportunity that they have been given to genuinely better themselves. This scholarship, I believe, will help open a new opportunity for me, in which I will be able to focus both on my studies and the application of the concepts I learn without the cost of tuition, textbooks, or transportation looming over my head, constantly nagging at me. Unlike the majority of students I've been surrounded by, I have no intention of letting that opportunity go to waste, especially because of the amount the people I love sacrificed to give it to me. Those limits that have been placed on me, the financial burden that I hold onto will be torn apart by my hunger to learn more.

In 2022 1.2 million New Yorkers were food insecure. My community is no different, as people travel hours for food distributions. Despite the food banks best efforts, they aren’t able to handle all of these hungry people, not due to incapacity, but lack of organization. Every distribution we have people taking multiple bags, arguing, and skipping others in line. Organizers have used a ticket system, but tickets get lost, and arguments inevitably ensue. But I had used technology to help with other problems, albeit simpler problems, in my life, so why was this any different? But talk is cheap, actually putting ideas into place is what separates people. Having just taken my first introduction to programming class, I was hungry for any opportunity to flex my coding muscles, and at the next team meeting I volunteered to fix the problem without any clear steps in mind. I decided to start sketching a rough drawing of the steps before I started building. After 3 short weeks of conversing with my mentors I had finally pushed out the final prototype using a variety of technologies. This tool finally addressed the chaos caused by the ticketing system by getting rid of the language barrier and disorderly conduct, and ensured more time can be spent on what really matters; getting people food when they need it. After implementation, our community center was now able to handle 400-500 people without any problem, and it allowed us volunteers to allocate our time towards packing and distributing instead of breaking up disputes on line. That is what technology is truly about. Learning to optimize and adapt regardless of the adversities you come against. However, the only way we can come to build technologies that actually help our communities is by pushing the envelope. My project took hours for me to build, especially while balancing a software engineering internship at the same time, but that's how innovative software is born. However, some people may not have that same opportunity that I did to access computer science resources, and that's why I'm committed to addressing what I believe is the biggest problem in the technology industry, diversity. At both my local mosque and my local library I led seminars to teach elementary and middle school kids Python and SNAP, because I remember my very first computer class in middle school where I felt so clueless, which almost prevented me from pursuing the field altogether. Anyone of those kids could go on to start the next platform that innovates in aviation, communication, entertainment, or defense. Making sure everyone feels welcomed and heard, regardless of where they come from or where they start at is how we nurture leaders in our community that will take action for what they believe in is the greatest innovation I could imagine.