I have had to overcome many life-altering challenges in my life—including the recent COVID-19 disruptions that began my sophomore year and have persisted throughout my senior year. I have had to deal with my problems of not asking for help, not being able to focus, and time management due to being a child of divorce. These issues only amplified as I had limited access to tutoring and extra-curricular activities to sort out these issues for most of my high school career due to not having transportation outside the school bus to go home. COVID changed a lot of expectations I had for myself and brought some interesting—to say the least—experiences. However, I learned that setbacks are an inevitable phase in everyone’s journey to success that must be embraced for the value it adds to your mission in life. Trying to adapt to my parents’ separate homes has harmed my academic performance and mental well-being. I struggled to live up to their different parenting styles, expectations, and the dreadful shuttling between homes. A recent example was the second semester of my junior year when school was virtual. My dad suggested I start attending school from his house, so I could start helping out with my newborn sibling. I could not focus because my responsibilities shifted to being an infant caregiver, which caused my GPA to drop and led me to miss out on merit-based opportunities and scholarships I would have been qualified for to help me fund my college education. I eventually found the confidence to speak up to my dad about how my grades were slipping, and I insisted that I concentrate on my studies and work harder towards finishing out the year strong. I also adopted mental strategies to help me recognize when my efforts have reached the stage of uncertainty to signal that it is time to ask for help. Building trustful mentor-mentee relationships with my teachers and local city officials has allowed me to be efficient in problem-solving. Also, seeking help from them has dramatically impacted my overall growth and development, which will come full circle when I can be that helpful mentor for someone else. Finally, letting go of all the negatives in my final year of high school with the determination that I could still earn college scholarships if I tried to volunteer my way to college strategy. I have earned over 216 hours of community service in my senior year and discovered that I genuinely have a passion for community service by helping others. I have received numerous academic achievements, including being the first multidisciplinary student in LEISD history to graduate with two academic distinctions in engineering and business. In addition, I earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award twice this school year. I made it to DECA International CDC Conference in Atlanta for my efforts as the President of School-Based Enterprises for my chapter. I have also been admitted to over 20 colleges and universities, including 15 HBCUs. I will be attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida, to major in Mechanical Engineering, emphasizing robotics and automation. I learned two essential lessons from this COVID experience: I must always self-advocate for myself and my education, even if it seems like I will be letting down others because I am capable of anything I set my mind to achieve. I survived the college application season while juggling community and school work. Failing is inevitable on the road to success. However, my achievements are the results of my hard work and are a depiction of my tenacity and zeal for finishing out strong.

I would have to say the smart glass concept by Corning would have to be the coolest innovation in the past ten years. In the sixth grade, I saw Corning’s “A Day Made of Glass” videos and thought about how cool the endless possibilities are by just integrating mobile device software into a thin, durable glass that can be positioned and utilized anywhere. They gave instances of the glass used in cars, on kitchen counters, and in retail stores to try on clothes. How the glass was able to be used in the classroom took the cake for me as I love integrating technology into the learning experience as it is fundamental to The integrated technologies improved traditional learning environments, which is a big thing for me as education is best taught when as versatile as possible, especially with recent events such as COVID-19. An example provided in the video was a group lesson on the color theory scene that provided the students with a holistic, hands-on experience because they were able to take colors on the interactive table and combine them to make new colors. While technological innovations with smart glass in the classroom are significant for education, I also admired the artificial intelligence improvements with smart glass designed for car displays, window displays, cellphones, and the self-checkout shopping experience. Innovations such as smart glass will continue to evolve with enhanced visual clarity and touch sensitivity and I’m curious as to how this technology can be incorporated into robotics.

I know that my future is in automation and robotics. Mechanical engineering sets the foundation for the specialization in robotics and automation, and my current future resides at my dream HBCU, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. FAMU-FSU’s College of Engineering will launch me into an enterprising black female future engineer by providing me the opportunity to do research fellowships, internships, and make connections in the robotics industry—all at a top-ranking, diverse joint college of engineering with the perks of the #1 public HBCU and a tier 1 research university. Earning my degree at my dream HBCU would propel me into the best possible position to thrive as I become a robotics engineer and use this success to thrust my community into a thriving, diverse, and safe society. Going to an HBCU was of the utmost importance when I looked at schools because I know that I can academically thrive where I feel wanted, represented, and safe. I chose FAMU because I always feel more comfortable having a ring of black excellence emitted by the community surrounding me. Since being accepted to FAMU, I have been approached with so much support from friends and family and current students and faculty, who have approached me with materials, resources, and a supportive community devoted to my success.

During its peak, the pandemic shrank down my whole life into the newsfeed on my iPhone, and police brutality became a prominent concern that stuck out to me. The police officers in these types of cases are rarely convicted for their actions due to the loopholes in the justice system and “lack of evidence.” However, after watching George Floyd being knelt on for eight minutes, calling for his mother as he slowly died, no judge could deny that this was solid evidence of a crime done against George Floyd. He was able to receive justice, all thanks to the bystanders recording the crime against him; unlike many other cases where there was no video proof of what had been done, the victims' families are left with no justice for their loved ones. This cause was important to me because, as a young black woman, I became very socially and emotionally aware and developed a deep reverence for the power of activism and awareness. I advocated, protested, and did any community service project I could get my hands on, especially throughout high school. I knew police brutality was a cause that I could advocate for; I just had to figure out how. I signed justice petitions for victims between my virtual computer-aided design classes, played with the new Shortcuts app on my phone during my intro to engineering classes, and thoroughly researched what I could do to help. I combined my two passions—engineering and community service—to create automation that could combat police brutality using the Shortcuts app and the camera on an iPhone. When you feel unsafe in an encounter with the police and trigger the automation using voice activation software, “Siri,” the program runs a sequence that records a video and alerts your loved ones by sending a series of text messages of the user's choice. Automation decreases the need for human interaction and prompts automatic responses once programmed into devices, so executing automation like this can help eliminate the many crimes that police officers, and other common perpetrators, constantly get away with. I also created a YouTube channel, Jolie Automation, to expose the world to other simple IOS automation. This summer, I plan to launch my channel with pre-made, step-by-step, how-to videos. This endeavor has also led me to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in automation and robotics at my dream HBCU, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, so that I can solve crimes, disrupt industries, and make the world safer and better place. I always believe in trusting in the process, dedicating time to it, and always trying to be positive and confident in my ability to do anything I desire! Nevertheless, designing this solution brought so much distress in the fact that it was something that had to be done to save black lives; however, I persevered and kept going knowing how important this was. If I had the opportunity to do this on a grander scale, I would invest in my college education and other aspiring creative innovators in technology, business, and law equality. Together, we could create a company targeting this problem from three aspects: technology for making product solutions, business engaging us in commerce, and law protecting our brand and mission.

I have had to overcome many life-altering challenges in my life—including the recent COVID-19 disruptions that began my sophomore year and have persisted throughout my senior year. I have had to deal with my problem of not asking for help, not being able to focus, and with time management, due to being a child of divorce. Also, I had limited access to tutoring and extra-curricular activities to sort out these problems for most of my high school career due to not having transportation outside of the—right-after-school—school bus to go home. However, I learned that setbacks are an inevitable phase in everyone’s journey to success that must be embraced for the value it adds to your life. Trying to adapt to my parents’ separate homes has harmed my academic performance and mental well-being. I struggled to live up to their different parenting styles, expectations, and the dreadful shuttling between homes. A recent example was the second semester of my junior year when school was virtual. My dad suggested I start attending school from his house, so I could start helping out with my newborn sibling. I could not focus because my responsibilities shifted to being an infant caregiver, which caused my GPA to drop and led me to miss out on merit-based opportunities and scholarships I would have been qualified for. I eventually found the confidence to speak up to my dad about how my grades were slipping, and I insisted that I concentrate on my studies and work harder towards finishing out the year strong. I also adopted mental strategies to help me recognize when my efforts have reached the stage of uncertainty to signal that it is time to ask for help. Building trustful mentor-mentee relationships with my teachers and local city officials has allowed me to be efficient in problem-solving. Also, seeking help from them has dramatically impacted my overall growth and development, which will come full circle when I can be that helpful mentor for someone else. I also learned two essential lessons from this experience: I must always self-advocate for myself and my education, even if it seems like I will be letting down others because I am capable of anything I set my mind to; and failing is inevitable on the road to success because my achievements, due to my hard work, are a depiction of my tenacity and zeal for finishing out strong. Finally, letting go of all the negatives in my final year of high school, I have received numerous academic achievements, including being the first multidisciplinary student in the history of LEISD to be graduating with two academic distinctions in engineering and business, earning the President’s Volunteer Service Award twice this school year, and making it to DECA International CDC in Atlanta for my efforts as the President of School-Based Enterprises for my chapter. I have also been admitted to over 18 colleges and universities, including 15 HBCUs. I will be attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida, to major in Mechanical Engineering, emphasizing robotics and automation. Upon my senior year, FAMU will have prepared me for my dream career as a successful robotics engineer. Using that success, I will thrust my community into a thriving, diverse, and safe society with all of the knowledge I have gained and the strong network of intelligent Rattlers. After gaining experience in the corporate world as a robotics engineer, I plan to open an engineering firm and hire minority engineers, especially black women, to combat the lack of us in STEM.

During its peak, the pandemic shrank down my whole life into the newsfeed on my iPhone, and police brutality became a prominent concern that stuck out to me. The police officers in these types of cases are rarely convicted for their actions due to the loopholes in the justice system and “lack of evidence.” However, after watching George Floyd being knelt on for eight minutes, calling for his mother as he slowly died, no judge could deny that this was solid evidence of a crime done against George Floyd. He was able to receive justice, all thanks to the bystanders recording the crime against him; unlike many other cases where there was no video proof of what had been done, the victims' families are left with no justice for their loved ones. This cause was important to me because, as a young black woman, I became very socially and emotionally aware and developed a deep reverence for the power of activism and awareness. I advocated, protested, and did any community service project I could get my hands on, especially throughout high school. I knew police brutality was a cause that I could advocate for; I just had to figure out how. I signed justice petitions for victims between my virtual computer-aided design classes, played with the new Shortcuts app on my phone during my intro to engineering classes, and thoroughly researched what I could do to help. I combined my two passions—engineering and community service—to create automation that could combat police brutality using the Shortcuts app and the camera on an iPhone. When you feel unsafe in an encounter with the police and trigger the automation using voice activation software, “Siri,” the program runs a sequence that records a video and alerts your loved ones by sending a series of text messages of the user's choice. Automation decreases the need for human interaction and prompts automatic responses once programmed into devices, so executing automation like this can help eliminate the many crimes that police officers, and other common perpetrators, constantly get away with. I also created a YouTube channel, Jolie Automation, to expose the world to other simple IOS automation. This summer, I plan to launch my channel with pre-made, step-by-step, how-to videos. This endeavor has also led me to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in automation and robotics at my dream HBCU, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, so that I can solve crimes, disrupt industries, and make the world safer and better place. I always believe in trusting in the process, dedicating time to it, and always trying to be positive and confident in my ability to do anything I desire! Nevertheless, designing this solution brought so much distress in the fact that it was something that had to be done to save black lives; however, I persevered and kept going knowing how important this was. If I had the money to do this on a grander scale, I would invest in my college education and other aspiring creative innovators in technology, business, and law equality. Together, we could create a company targeting this problem from three aspects: technology for making product solutions, business engaging us in commerce, and law protecting our brand and mission.

My big dream is to be a robotics engineer and design automated solutions that will be an industry disruptor and change how we live and work. To reach my big goal, I will begin an exciting journey of pursuing a multi-disciplinary STEM degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in robotics at FAMU-FSU’s College of Engineering in the Fall of 2022. With the robotics industry struggling to find talented individuals who are multi-disciplinary, with skills ranging from software to hardware to interface design, I set my goals high and challenge myself to meet those needs. I am excited about this journey to pursue my STEM-centered passion and love for discovering innovative futuristic technologies. My unique perspective will be creating and developing robotics solutions that benefit humanity. As a black woman, I know that I will be challenging the status quo of engineers as very few engineers look like me. However, my brilliance will shine bright with my unique perspectives and demand for inclusion and acceptance, and I will not be held captive by my gender or race. Early education and exposure to innovative technologies sponsored by Black Girls Code Inc., sparked my interest in pursuing a career as a robotics engineer. As a child, I found a love for engineering, through learning how to set up an experiment, applying math and science in my daily life, and playing with the new gadgets my parents would bring home. However, robotics and automation intrigued me and led me to explore my love for technology and critical thinking through extracurricular activities such as the Black Girls Code and the Zero Debt College Project. I was intrigued by how some of the world’s most complex challenges could be solved by building robots and coding them to replace human interactions. I really enjoy math, problem-solving, coding logic, designing objects, and assembly. I’ve spent my Saturdays participating in STEM workshops hosted by Black Girls Code Dallas for over five years. I learned everything from logic building on Scratch and introductory programming with Python to 3D printing a Wakanda coin using CAD and building and programming robotic Lego vehicles. The program boosted my love for technology and problem-solving. Our world is rapidly adopting robotics and automation solutions to automate repetitive human tasks and will be in high demand for years to come. Mechanical engineering sets the foundation for specializations in artificial intelligence and robotics, which I intend to pursue. As I have a passion for making sure people are treated fairly, I want to be instrumental in ensuring that implicit bias is not encoded into robotics and automated solutions. The biggest challenge that I face in my everyday life is staying focused while managing my time across two households. Setbacks are inevitable and a phase in everyone’s successful journey that must be embraced for the value it adds. Over the years I have struggled with managing my time while having to spend time between two households as my parents got divorced when I was 8 years old. Court orders required that I spend equal time with my parents although they lived one hour apart. Having to adapt to their separate households has had a negative impact on my academic performance and mental well-being as I struggled to live up to their different parenting styles, expectations, and the dreadful shuttling between the homes. Unfortunately, this will remain a challenge for me until I graduate from high school when I am emancipated from the court orders. I am looking forward to living on campus in a few months in a brand new environment where I will be able to have control over my time. With my focus in disarray, it led to mismanaging my time which hindered my ability to ask for help in a timely manner. Asking for help has always been a challenge for me because I have always had to believe in my capabilities and talent to achieve it on my own, due to being ridiculed by teachers when I did. I have realized that struggling and not asking for help is just wasting time and detrimental to my evolution as a student and leader. I have adopted mental strategies to help me recognize when my efforts have reached the stage of uncertainty to signal that it is time to ask for help. Seeking help from mentors in a timely manner has greatly impacted my overall growth and development that will come full circle when I am able to be that helpful mentor for someone else.