“Can I please get the window seat,” my 10-year-old self would plead with my baby sister as we are boarding the massive Airbus airplane. We were flying to my home country, Sudan, for the summer, an annual tradition of ours that allowed us to visit our family and friends, but for my younger self, the fun truly began with the plane ride. Even though I could not understand how it worked, observing the wing’s mechanisms and operations piqued my curiosity and interest. This fascination eventually grew into a deep admiration, and I instantly knew I wanted to be part of this experience when I grew up. Today, I reflect on the past as I write this essay during my final year of college studying aerospace engineering. Pursuing this major has answered so many of the questions my younger self had, and even more I never thought to ask, but it also painted a clearer picture of the type of engineer I aspire to be. As a future aeronautics engineer, I envision myself constantly finding new ways to improve current machine technologies and systems, and developing innovative strategies for these machines to function, all while collaborating with other intelligent individuals who share the same passion for making people’s journeys within -and beyond- earth worthwhile. That said, my goal of obtaining a career in the aviation industry is not solely driven by personal dreams and ambitions. I come from Sudan, a country where the aerospace sector is not particularly flourishing. This has led to its removal as a field of study in colleges and universities, a decline in the number of people pursuing it as a career, and, ultimately, a reliance on foreign engineers and companies for the production of our very own aircraft. I aim to utilize the knowledge, resources, and skills I gain from my degree to become one of the leading engineers responsible for re-establishing the aerospace industry in my home country, providing its engineers-to-be a chance to seek their desired degree right where they call home. My journey from a curious kid captivated by how an airplane works to a soon-to-be aerospace engineer has stemmed from a blend of personal passion and the desire to contribute to the development of my home country. As I look ahead, I am determined to play a pivotal role in reviving Sudan’s aviation industry and creating opportunities for future generations of engineers to dream, pioneer and succeed in building a brighter future – I owe that to my 10-year-old self.

“Welcome to the United States” was what the port-of-entry officer told me as I was passing through the check counter at the airport of a now-raining Seattle where I had my layover before I arrived at my destination of Tucson, Arizona. For nearly two years filled with financial instability, rejections and a global pandemic, hearing those five words seemed near-impossible… I faced my first adversity when I was rejected a US visa twice. It got to a point where I almost convinced myself that studying abroad is simply not meant for me. Luckily, I had two supportive parents who would not take no for an answer. They encouraged me to go for one more interview; just one, and if it was unfortunate, then we would look for alternatives, something I was strongly avoiding. And so, I did, and I could not be any happier. Flash-forward to today as I write this essay during my final year of college majoring in aerospace engineering, a field I am especially passionate about. Pursuing this field has been a result of my early fascination of airplanes; as such, in the future, I see myself in a leading aeronautics company working in the design, construction and production of technologically advanced airplanes and their components, while implementing my own creative ideas into the industry. I currently have a part-time on-campus job at one of the university’s departments that helps me pay rent, bills and other expenses; however, one thing that it cannot cover is tuition, which is one of the biggest adversities I have faced so far. It is no surprise that out-of-state tuition is extremely expensive, but I was particularly amazed by the limited funding resources that are available to international students. What options do students like me from poor countries such as Sudan have? Personally, I have experienced too much in the span of 4 years to fulfill my objectives for me to simply quit because of funding. This is where scholarships like this are of significant help. Not only do they support us financially but mentally and emotionally as well; they remind and reassure us that tuition should not be an obstacle to getting an education from the best universities in the world. Another obstacle I have encountered during the first few months of my stay in the US that is not uncommon among international students would be homesickness. Being around people from different cultures, backgrounds and religions was intimidating at first. Because I come from an Afro-Arab and Muslim background, I am used to seeing and doing things in a more conservative way; therefore, moving to such an open environment made me worried of how I was going to be perceived by most Americans. This, in addition to maintaining a conversation in my non-native language, made it hard for me to interact and form friendships with domestic students in an attempt not to embarrass myself. This changed with time, however. I became more willing to communicate with students unbothered by whether I spoke perfect English or not, and instead of trying to hide my culture and religion, I embraced it. I was amazed by how accepting most Americans are, some even willing to learn more about my background. In short, I have experienced several hardships before and after I got to the US. Some of them, I share with other fellow international students; some I had to overcome on my own. Personally, these experiences taught me responsibility, independence and, my personal favorite, perseverance. Facing obstacles is inevitable; it is how you overcome them that is the tricky part that builds character.

I did not know Mohamed personally, but we had some mutual friends who knew and loved him dearly. It was not until his passing that I realized just how much of an activist Mohamed was in terms of his passion for doing what is right and his ability to see good in this world, most specifically, his advocacy for our home country, Sudan. I learned this mostly from social media where his closest friends would post many pictures and videos of Mohamed taking action for his beliefs as well as his poetry that call for peace and love, portraying him as the hero he truly was. This was when I felt motivated and inspired to support and fight for the justice and democracy that Sudan deserves instead of looking at my home country from a critical, disappointed and hopeless eye that I once strongly had. Mohamed reminded me that I needed to do more for my country. Ever since I moved to the US last year to finish my studies, I have been trying my best to raise awareness about Sudan, not only mentioning the negatives that are constantly shown in the media but educating people here about our beautiful culture and traditions, our core values and intellect and our generosity and kindness as Sudanese individuals. I often felt sad and frustrated when people would not know where or what Sudan even is, especially with the most recent ongoing war between the SAF and the RSF that continues to affect millions of Sudanese people right now. However, I learned to change that negative energy into something that was useful, both for Sudan and the people who do not know much about it. As such, my fellow Sudanese friends and I established the Sudanese American Wildcat Association (acronym “SAWA” meaning “together” in Arabic: سوا) at our college. The purpose of the association is to unite the Sudanese students on campus and together, or “sawa,” we hosted multiple events where we would share with the other students our culture, language and food while raising awareness about the current situation in our home country. One of our noteworthy actions was when a group of us traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, a city that is two hours away from us to participate in a protest under the name “Stop The War” to stand up for the innocent Sudanese civilians whose basic human rights have been violated due to the clash between the two armed parties in April 2023. The protest received local coverage with a few curious people who drove by honking in support or stopping and asking us our purpose. This was when we realized we were doing the right thing for our country and its people. It took me a while to realize that supporting and fighting for your homeland is a duty that all of us need to practice in our everyday life, yet I am glad that I had come to that resolution one way or another, and it is mostly thanks to individuals like Mohamed and the many martyrs before and after him. Although we have lost such a powerful soul to a tragedy that Mohamed was continuously fighting to prevent, his efforts, achievements and compassion will never be forgotten by our younger Sudanese generation – I know I personally have not.

There is no simple answer as to why I would like to be an aerospace engineer, but I believe my interest in aeronautics was piqued from a very young age. Airplanes specifically have fascinated me the most. Every time I traveled, I developed a feeling of excitement and admiration, and I immediately knew that I wanted to be part of this experience when I grew up. I even considered becoming a pilot at one point; however, I was later captivated by aerospace engineering. I have always been keen on reflecting my own creative ideas into my work, that being my professional or school work, and I believe such a prominent STEM industry such as aerospace would enable and challenge me to do just that, hence my strong passion for it. One of my main objectives is to land a job at a leading aerospace company such as NASA, Boeing, and many more. Surely, this stems from my pursuit of challenge and competitiveness; nevertheless, such an achievement would allow me to work with other intelligent individuals and use the most advanced technologies and services to meet people’s needs and desires, and inevitably make their journeys in and out of Earth worthwhile. With all that is being said, my dream of obtaining a career in STEM is not entirely attributed to my personal goals and ambitions. I come from Sudan, a country where the aerospace sector is not particularly flourishing, and as such, the few determined fresh high school graduates, like myself, who were lucky enough were able to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering in another country, while the rest who stayed in Sudan were simply forced to pursue a degree in another field and neglect their dream of working in the aeronautics industry. Therefore, I want to be able to utilize the knowledge, resources and skills I gain from working in a STEM field to become one of the leading engineers who are responsible for re-establishing the aerospace industry in our motherland and providing those other engineers-to-be a chance to seek their desired degree right where they call home. My journey with aerospace engineering has just started but the field is a journey within itself, one that has an extremely bright future ahead. I would like to see myself being part of this thriving industry and merging my journey with the field's promising journey, and therefore, be an important asset in aiding people with theirs.

24% of high school students just do not like maths, according to a survey conducted by Research Now Group, Inc. on 1,000 teenagers across the US. I, personally, expected a higher number than that given that every person I have ever met in high school simply could not stand math. On the other hand, I was one of those students everyone thought was crazy because I loved math -and still do. During high school, I was an unofficial maths and advanced maths tutor to my friends and relatives that were struggling with the subject. According to them, I was brilliant at explaining the material in a way they could easily understand. This is why I think some people dislike maths; they are quick to jump to the conclusion that they do not understand it. It is when they start grasping the subject that they realize how beautiful and satisfying the feeling of solving a problem is. If you ask me, I love math because it made me realize an important thing about myself: that I am no quitter. Let's take a simple example like a math problem: I could spend hours trying to find the solution for it but leaving it unsolved is just not an option; otherwise, it will be the only thing I think about as I go about my day: how I could not solve a simple math problem. This is, of course, in addition to the rewarding feeling I get when I actually solve the problem. As a final thought, math plays a crucial role not only in today's world of technology and machines, but also in our everyday life such as in understanding loans and investments, purchasing a house, or even mundane activities like grocery shopping. Therefore, I believe it is extremely beneficial to have scholarships like this that teach the importance of maths but also encourage more youths to perceive and love the subject.

In general, my ultimate goal is to become an excellent aerospace engineer at a pioneering company like NASA or SpaceX; however, on a deeper level, I want to be able to utilize that achievement to support my family in Sudan the way they have been supporting me mentally, emotionally and financially in my stay and education in the US. They have always fully invested and had faith in me and my future; making a name for myself in the aerospace industry is the least I can do for myself and for them.