My Goal for the 2025-26 School Year, to start anew and renew. by Katelyn

My Goal for the 2025-26 School Year, to start anew and renew. by Katelyn - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

For this upcoming school year, I am hopeful that I can finish my requirements for transferring to Cal Poly Pomona for my Computer Engineering degree at Norco College, with my last physics class left on my schedule. I plan to reconsider my chances of getting into my dream school this spring after nearly getting into Cal Poly Pomona this fall, which ended up being reversed due to hardships I went through during my freshman and sophomore years. Though I persevered from life changing experiences from the loss of my beloved nan, my father’s work disability and enduring a long respiratory illness, I still went on and took strides above and beyond my education. I held vice president of Makers Club which I founded this engineering club at Norco College and went from outreach coordinator to this position as a remarkable leader. I also took part in another STEM club named NC Rocketry to build the nozzle and design the rocket for the FAR-OUT launch, and started my career journey as an intern at NASA through the L’Space MCA program and previously in NCAS. I learned so many valuable lessons from these setbacks and it has never stopped me from completing my associates at Norco College, especially balancing these priorities with work, extracurricular activities and a season as a flag football player. In turn, once I finish this semester I hope it will help me get into my dream school while still being able to graduate on time, and landing my dream career at Apple as a software engineer.