As the dust fibers drifted through the air, my eyes followed their movements, blurring my surroundings. Despite my parents scolding me out of fear of me turning cross-eyed, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the dust in the sunlight. Seven years have passed since that day, and I’ve grown in many ways: From struggling with math, to making it my academic strength; From learning about ‘community’ in boy scouts, to leading our troop in my eagle project and various camp-outs; From hiding my feelings, to confiding in trusted friends. I have gained valuable experiences in the many facets of life. However, with each step forward, the one thing that hasn’t changed is my awe of science and passion for learning. Each new morsel of knowledge showed me that there is always a higher step, a higher goal, and a higher purpose. Though school did not allow space in my schedule to take a computer science course, I indulged in other ways. I learned how a few lines of code could write “hello world.” Then I learned that a few more lines could create a neural network that implemented machine learning to make “intelligent decisions.” I could write multiple loops which could get a job done, or I could write a recursive algorithm to get a job done efficiently. The more I practiced, the clearer these new possibilities became, and as artificial intelligence grows more complex and data structures are operating at light speed, I see myself leading an industry development and changing the technological world as we know it for the better. I hope to see well past the strand of dust floating in front of me today, and look ahead to the boundless world of STEM knowledge.