4.

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to
overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

A significant educational opportunity that I have taken advantage of is attending the

annual Women In STEM conference my first three years of high school. I was selected annually
along with only 39 other female students to attend the off-campus event because I was a
woman in my school’s Environmental Science Engineering and Technology academy. This
conference brings women from all STEM fields and showcases their experiences from applying
to college, to majoring in the field of their choice, and giving personal testimonies about what it
was like in the STEM field. Men are primarily associated with STEM, and thus being able to hear
from solely women in this field and listen to their challenges that they endured cemented what
this identity holds in this career choice. From their inspiring stories I have learned what it takes
to become a part of the STEM field, and how their abilities were questioned because of racial
and gender dynamics. I was moved by their stories to strive for my goals of getting accepted
into an engineering program, graduate with honors, and ultimately have a career as an
engineer. During the first conference I was able to have lunch with a woman who is an
aerospace engineer, and in our short 30 minute conversation she explained the obstacles she
endured as a first generation college student and walked me through her average work day.
Because of our encounter, I took interest in attending the conference annually in order to build
upon my knowledge of women in the STEM field, such as learning about the inspirational stories
of the first women who majored in STEM. This event has influenced my identity as a proud
young woman in STEM and self confidence to fully take my education into my hands. This
continues to be one of my most valuable experiences because as a high school student I was
surrounded by women who became my role models who I now strive to become like for future
women of color interested in pursuing a career in STEM.