Mina
Life for me has always been like a game of chess, always trying to make the first move and stay a few steps ahead– trying to get closer to the king. The king in my life being my goals and dreams. Ever since I laid my eyes upon the art of chemistry, I've been hooked. Chemical bonding, acids and bases, everything about it has always been so captivating. Now, as a first-generation college student, I plan to pursue my dream of majoring in chemical engineering and hopefully getting into my target school, UC Berkeley. By obtaining this scholarship, not only will it ease my financial burden, but it will also aid me in my journey of becoming a chemical engineer– to help contribute to global warming causes by assisting in the creation of eco-friendly designs to decelerate greenhouse gas emissions.
Growing up in an immigrant household made me realize that not all kids have the same opportunities as I do. My parents, for example, both didn't graduate high school due to their circumstances in their home country. That's why they moved here. To give me and my brothers a better life. I couldn’t have gone to where I am without my parents. Even though they did all of this, growing up hasn’t been easy. Sometimes we had to live paycheck to paycheck and other times we got to spoil ourselves a little. Despite all this, my parents always stayed focused on our education and financial responsibility, teaching me and my siblings how to spend money wisely from a young age. All of these experiences have shaped me into the person I am today and help motivate me to push myself even harder than I already am and so that I can make my parents proud.
During my middle school, and now high school career, I’ve been involved in many extracurricular activities and sports to constantly challenge myself academically and physically. For example, United Women of East Africa. This is a program that gives back to the community of East Africans all across San Diego and helps support them in countless ways, like tutoring and religious learning while still making it fun. We would also go on field trips to different cities, like L.A to go to amusement parks and learn about other cultures. I've also played a couple of sports, like volleyball for the Jackie Robinson YMCA team for a season or two, which is my personal favorite sport, basketball for this past year, and badminton in 6th-7th grade. I especially love volleyball and I hope to get onto my school team this year! Some other activities I've also done are Science Olympiad, a baking club, playing in my school orchestra for two years, which I'm still doing currently, joining reality changers and Model United Nations, and summer chemistry and biology classes.
My goal is to get into UC Berkeley and achieve a masters in chemical engineering and a bachelors in psychology. This may seem like an odd match-up, but sometimes things don’t always work out the way you want it to. Chemical engineering is a tough career to get into and instead of giving up, I'd rather help save lives from a mental perspective and help spread mental health awareness. But hopefully it doesn’t come to that due to the high demand and employment percentage growth rising for the past couple of years.