When Screens Became Windows by Namira

When Screens Became Windows by Namira - November 2025 Scholarship Essay

There is a peculiar kind of magic in the way technology has the ability to turn the unseen into something that can be held. To most, technology in the classroom can mean speedy typing, eBooks, or interactive games. However, for someone like me, it has become something deeper than that. Technology has become a pair of binoculars through which I can view the world not as pixels, but possibilities. It has turned my education into something that is alive.

In September 2021, I entered my first college Anatomy class, and the classroom itself felt overwhelming. Everything was brand new - new expectations, new rules, and a plethora of new information that felt absolutely impossible to understand. Then, one day, my professor introduced a 3D anatomy app to the class. The human heart went from being a boring, flat image sitting in a textbook to a fascinating animation. The organ rotated slowly, allowing us to see every valve and chamber. For the very first time, I didn't just memorize the heart and its parts, I understood it. Appreciated it. That was the moment I realized technology cannot replace learning, but it can certainly humanize it.

The change that technology has made in my life is not just academic, however. It has also completely transformed the way I connect with others. Group projects that once felt chaotic due to everyone’s schedules and whereabouts have now become much easier to manage through video calls, shared documents, and virtual whiteboards. My classmates and I have been able to edit projects together, while still fostering a social connection through laughs and conversation. In those moments, technology did not feel isolating. It felt like we were building a community. That’s exactly what education really is at its core: connection. Between minds, between fields of study, between experiences. Technology is the bridge that brings us closer.

One of my most favorite experiences was during a virtual global health seminar, when our professor was able to connect the class with students from Bangladesh, Kenya, and Brazil to join our classroom discussion on gestational diabetes. For about two hours, our Pennsylvanian classroom existed on multiple continents. We were able to compare healthcare systems, shared research articles, and told stories of challenges faced, and found many similarities between our struggles. As a Bangladeshi-American student myself, that experience served as a reminder that education is not limited to countries. It is built together through conversations that technology can make infinite.

Technology has also put the compassion back into learning. I can recall many times when there were certain classmates of mine who were not able to attend classes regularly due to illnesses, family problems, or work. Through lecture recordings, discussion board assignments, and YouTube videos, they never fell behind the class. Technology was able to offer them the flexibility and dignity that they deserve. The dignity that whispers, “You still belong,” after all they have been through. That is something that is underappreciated, something we should all celebrate.

If I could sum up just how much technology has changed my life in the classroom, I’d say it was able to singlehandedly spark the evolution of learning. It transformed education into something I obtain into something I can create for myself. It gave me the power to say, “I am not just a student, I am a participant.” In discussion, in collaboration, and in the overall story of human advancement. Technology did not just make me aware of facts; it was able to teach me how to think, ask questions, and communicate. Breaking the barriers between the classroom and the real world, tech has turned every search and every tap into something greater: a tomorrow where knowledge is co-created.