Breaking Free by Lauren

Breaking Free by Lauren - May 2023 Scholarship Essay

“Don’t aim too high because black women are not represented in the tech industry”, my Dad told me when I was sixteen years old. When I started sharing my attraction for automation at school, I was told I was only filling a diversity quota and I should study something ‘easier. I learned that I can’t let their truth become mine. I became intrigued by how one line of code can birth a revolution of innovation.

During my senior year in college, I learned about a book called, “Algorithms of Oppression” by Safiya Noble. The book details how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms. Noble’s book incited me to examine this issue deeper. In 2013, the United Nations did a campaign to bring attention to the sexist and discriminatory ways women are regarded and denied human rights. The Google search autosuggestions featured ideas such as, “Women cannot: drive, be trusted. Women should: “stay at home, be slaves, be in the kitchen”. Immediately, I became breathless and anxious.

I couldn’t believe what I read. I was shaken to my core when I learned what the search results were when you typed in the words “black girls”. These discoveries reinforced the harsh advice from my dad and made me believe that having an IT career was impossible. I knew I had to do something about this issue.

My undergraduate computer science curriculum had no classes on how to use data to drive business decisions and how technology plays a part in creating innovative solutions for these decisions. Therefore, I decided to take business intelligence classes at my university’s College of Business. Through my business courses, I became fascinated with data science: the ability to use scientific methods and algorithms to solve complex problems using data.

Data discrimination is a real social problem. Women and minorities are immensely impacted by the prejudices of AI which can influence decisions when it comes to job opportunities, access to medical care, and more. This is a global problem but became a personal problem for me earlier this year when my grandfather passed away from COVID-19 and diabetes.

Shockingly, researchers say 1 in 10 people with diabetes who are hospitalized with COVID-19 die within a week. I want to develop biomedical technology for those suffering from underlying health conditions from the elderly population to minorities in underserved communities. This technology will allow patients to be proactive with their health instead of reactive.

After a year of working, I decided to leave my job to go back to school to pursue a career in data science. This is important to me because my grandfather waited until it was too late to receive aid. I know I can’t save the world, but with this tool, I want to help a few others save their life. I want to prevent what happened to my grandfather from happening to someone else.

However, I have no income and over fifty thousand dollars in student debt. I am in an unnoticed group of students who need financial support–the children of working parents who are still paying off student loans. Every day, I get to apply for scholarships so I can graduate-debt free with my master’s degree. Sometimes I have moments when I want to give up and get a job to help support my family.

I come from a broken family. My mom and grandparents sacrificed so much for me to obtain my undergraduate degree by taking out many loans for me. My family can’t afford to be in another financial bind. If I could go out and work so many hours a week I would, but I can’t. If I worked a job I wouldn’t be able to take my grandmother to her doctor’s appointments.

She has stage three kidney failure and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, cancer in the blood and bone marrow, and requires constant check-ups since her health is deteriorating. The only option I have is to apply for scholarships while she watches Judge Judy in the afternoon.

I submitted over 300 scholarship applications within the past year. If I don’t win this scholarship I won’t be able to go back to school. My goal is to graduate debt-free, eliminate the remaining debt I have and save three to six months of an emergency fund for post-graduation. This scholarship will go towards my tuition and help me honor my family's sacrifices.