This is what I want to do with my life:

I plan on using my college education and experience to be an example and mentor for girls interested in pursuing an education in technology.  Growing up, I was fortunate enough to have a mother involved in the technological world.  Her interest and involvement made it easier for me than most girls to discover the opportunities that lay ahead of me in technology. 

It hasn’t taken long for me to realize that women in technology are few and far between.  Upon researching the cause for this sparseness, I discovered that a lack of role models and mentors in the field of technology is a major reason why women aren’t pursuing a technological education or career.  I plan on working closely with groups dedicated to empowering women in technology both during and after my education.  I have already done some work with the women and children’s center of Provo: I helped the center obtain computers and upgraded them to make them extremely user-friendly.  I also helped obtain and install software for the women to use in finding and obtaining employment, and educational software for the children.  This project has had so much success, that my brother is, as part of his Eagle project, working on getting the center 2 new updated computers to add to the lab.

I have seen firsthand through various programs I have been a part of how technology can change people’s lives.  A little bit of education empowers people, who had nothing in their lives before, to either have the self-confidence to continue their education, or to even obtain a career.  The opportunities available to people are endless.  Many people, however, don’t realize how obtainable these opportunities really are.  Women especially are lead to believe that they don’t belong in the business world, and more specifically, the technology world.  Stereotypes of “manly” jobs discourage women from trying for careers they could really excel with.  Too many women are afraid of technology, and we need to break the negative stereotypes.  To do this, it is important that we start girls at a young age in participating with groups that encourage them to embrace technology.  One such program that I was a part of, called HI-GEAR (Girls Engineering Abilities Realized) at the University of Utah, takes middle school and high school-aged girls through various workshops and seminars that are focused on how women really do belong in the technology world.  The girls who participate, leave the program with a deeper understanding on if they want to pursue a technical career, and how they can obtain an education that will get them to it.

I want to help people change their lives through technical education, but before I can do that, I need to be educated myself.  Obtaining a college degree is something that I have always planned on doing with my life and something I am working hard towards achieving.