**Why are you interested in joining a BUILD Circle? ***

I've always been incredibly mission-driven, passionate about using whatever resources I had to make change. My interests have resided at the intersection of STEM, the Arts, and Education ever since I was a little girl, and I curiously search for ways of combining all three passions. I believe that we, as individuals, each possess an immense power to change the world, but that our powers are maximized and magnified when we work together. When I learned about ThirdSpace@'s BUILD circles, I began to imagine the magic that is bound to come out of conversations with like-minded individuals. I yearned to be a part of these conversations and to bring my own unique problem-solving capabilities and strategies to the table.

This program will ask you to think about how you want to engage with communities. Describe a community you want to engage with or already engaging with. In what ways are you connected to it?

One community that I'm extremely passionate about engaging with is the girls in STEM community. I spent my entire childhood dreaming of becoming an astrophysicist when I grew up, and went onto conduct astrophysics research at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) during my senior year of high school. I've been a part of this community long enough to know and experience the challenges that come from being a girl in it. Before I discovered my own passion for science, I laughed at the thought of a girl growing up to become a scientist, as I had never heard of or seen any female scientists. How was 7 year old me supposed to know I could be something I couldn't see? I was lucky enough to discover my passion for astrophysics at the early age of 8 when I attended my first space show at AMNH's planetarium, and was even luckier to have been raised with the love of and support of my mom who always encouraged me to pursue STEM, but for many reasons, my story is a rare one. It is rare to discover your passion for STEM as a young girl, and even rarer to be supported by a woman (or even better, women) role model(s) throughout K-12 education, and I absolutely recognize this. In the past few months, I've really began to think deeply about how unique and privileged my upbringing truly was, and how unfortunately so many little girls—especially little girls from low-income Black and Brown communities with disproportionally less STEM resources and education—are not so lucky. I've thought deeply about what I can do, both long and short term, to close the gender gap in STEM. Long term, I have massive plans, but I recognize that long term goals cannot be accomplished without reaching short term goals first. Thus, I've begun to share the best resource I have at this point in my life: my own STEM story. I was asked to give a talk in early July to 350+ middle and high school girls and non-binary folks across the world detailing my experience conducting astrophysics research as a high schooler. I provided my tips and advice for obtaining a science research internship, and made sure that my slides were filled with pink and purple and sparkles, the vibe I wish the entire STEM community had. When I closed out of the Zoom room at the end of my talk, my heart was the fullest it had ever been. It was incredible to connect with so many STEM girls worldwide. This one opportunity kickstarted me into the world of virtual public speaking, and I've been lucky enough to continue getting more speaking opportunities after every engagement. I make sure to leave each audience with my underlying message: your real, authentic (STEM) passion is your key to changing the world. I share my own faults and hardships as a young woman in STEM and highlight the ways in which it is my passion that has always kept me grounded, always said yes to me even when it felt like the whole rest of the world was saying no. My hope is that by sharing my passion, my audience will feel inspired to follow theirs. To engage with the STEM community in this way is such a honor, and I feel so grateful that my story has had the opportunity to influence others. There is massive work that must be done in order to create a truly inclusive STEM community, but I believe that this work must begin with sharing our own STEM stories and allowing those stories to inspire others. My life's work is to completely re-envision the way we view STEM as a society, and we're just getting started.

Are you already at work tackling any of these three interconnected challenges? If so, please tell us about that. And if not, don't worry! This program will support you in doing so. Tell us why you are interested in tackling one or more of these challenges.

As passionate as I am about radically changing the way we view STEM as a society—including the development of more inclusive and innovative methods of STEM education—I care deeply about effective and necessary forms of education as a whole. In the past few months, I began working with several of my friends on a project directly birthed out of the education gap resulting from COVID-19, Filling The Gap. FTG is an NYC tutoring organization that matches students on gap years or doing semesters online with NYC K-12 students in need of academic and artistic support. We're in the process of matching 80+ tutors in our network with families in need across NYC. Using my own skillset in design, tech, and user experience, I designed the framework of our website (which we've now passed onto an experienced developer), developed our brand (logo, color scheme, general vibe), and once our site is up and running, I'll be analyzing the demographics that make up the most "desirable" tutors (as in the types of tutors that families most often request to work with) and working to ensure that our website allows tutors all of all backgrounds to reach all families in need. Education is the solution to so many problems this world holds—as I've touched on in previous responses—and it is imperative that our students have access to quality education even during these unprecedented times. I'm looking forward to continuing to expand our tutoring network and reach this year, and would love to bring students from ThirdSpace@ onto the team, too!

Anything else you'd like to share with us?

When I first discovered ThirdSpace@, I literally told my friends and family about it immediately. The Athena Center was one of the biggest reasons why I ultimately committed to Barnard, and I am more than eager to get involved with this incredible community. It would be a true honor and incredible start to my time at Barnard to collaborate with change-oriented students and work together to positively impact this world in a time filled with so much negativity. Thank you very much for considering my application!