The Plan by Caleb

The Plan by Caleb - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

As I close in on the end of my high school journey, the obvious question is, what do I plan to do next? I pondered this question throughout high school and even long before that and have decided I want to study electrical engineering and pursue a career in it. For as long as I can remember, I have had a love for design and inventing. The joy brought from seeing your project function correctly after many trials and failures is a sort of gratification that can't be described. My desire to invent grew even larger after watching my father. My father is an electrician, and seeing him construct large and complicated electrical projects has made me curious about what I would be able to create if I had the knowledge and tools to do so.
I have come to the conclusion that I will chase this gratification and explore my curiosity further, beginning with a college education. During my time in college, I hope to expand my knowledge about electrical engineering and all it has to offer. I will learn the basics of engineering in general throughout my first two years, study electrical engineering at large in my junior year, and then finally research a technical theme my senior year. My current plan is to take optics and photonics electives, as when I graduate, I wish to design military assets and weapons. I will accomplish all these objectives while maintaining a good GPA and being a part of extracurriculars.
Growing up playing sci-fi battle games with laser beams and projectiles that move at the speed of light, I always wanted to know if these types of things would be able to exist in real life. This is a large reason I plan to devote my career to optics and photonics. Creating these futuristic weapons would certainly bring that feeling of gratification I feel whenever I design something new. Ultimately, I plan to pursue an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, specifically optics and photonics, then create and design defense systems.