Essay V2

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-294 squiggly red underlines. Nearly every line of my code had errors. Null pointers,
-incompatible types, undefined variables, Gradle sync errors---I had seen it all, and each error felt like a
-dissonant chord demanding resolution. It was February 2024, my freshman year, and we had ten minutes to
-take the field for our First Tech Challenge (FTC) final match. My heart raced as I thumped the keyboard in a
-frenzy. My code was broken, and for the final match, it had to work. Time raced faster than it ever used to, and
-I finally compiled the code.
-There was no time to test, hardly any to breathe, and before I knew it, we were on the field with my index
-finger hovering over the large play button. Time paused. I heard the buzzer and pressed play. Success.
-In two minutes and thirty seconds, we became league champions.
+294 Squiggly red underlines. Nearly every line of my code had errors.
+Null pointers, incompatible types, undefined variables, Gradle sync errors---I
+had encountered them all. It was February 2024, my freshman year, and we had
+ten minutes to take the field for our First Tech Challenge (FTC) League Finals.
+My heart pounded as keys clattered beneath my flying fingers. My code was broken,
+and for the finals, it had to work. The merciless clock ticked away, and with
+seconds to go, I finally compiled the code. There was no time to test, hardly
+any to breathe. We took the field, and my finger hovered over the play button.
+Time paused. The buzzer sounded, and I pressed play. Success. In two minutes
+and thirty seconds, we won.
 
-It was almost hard to believe that seven months back, I didn't know what a variable was.
-I was fully into music, and programming was not even an afterthought.
-It was a mere coincidence that my neighbor (and good friend) decided to start a robotics team, and given the minimal investment, I
-joined. Like nearly all of my endeavors, my FTC journey began with a Google search. I was learning at a snail's pace, and it
-had taken me two months to simply make a motor move. Soon, I was hooked. Like a sponge, I was absorbing everything I had to learn,
-and I had eventually taught myself enough Java to become a functional FTC programmer.
+Seven months earlier, I didn't know what a variable was. I was fully into music,
+and programming wasn't even on my radar. When my friend started a robotics team,
+I joined on a whim. My journey began with a Google search. Progress was
+painstakingly slow; it took me two full months to make a motor turn. But
+gradually, I became hooked. Like a sponge, I absorbed everything: tutorials,
+documentation, and even Stack Overflow threads. Eventually, I taught myself
+enough Java to become a functional FTC programmer.
 
-As the season progressed, my sponge was
-soaked, and we were a top competitive team by February. On competition day, the lightbulb within me finally clicked.
-The joy I experienced wasn't just from our robot picking up and scoring pixels, but from the fact that the code I had recently learn to write
-was resulting in a tangible output that I could witness. It was that moment when I decided to pursue a STEM career. I was
-no longer just a high school student; I was a STEM student, and I was ready to help change the world.
+As the season progressed, we became a competitive team, and my knowledge was
+expanding in parallel. On that competition day, something just clicked. The
+joy I experienced wasn't just from our robot picking up and scoring pixels,
+but from seeing my code produce tangible results. In that moment, I'd found
+my calling. I was no longer just a high school student; I was a STEM student,
+and I was ready to see where my code could take me.
 
-But that readiness was tested in September 2024. In a spur of ambitious insanity,
-I had committed to building a machine learning model to predict gait patterns in Parkinson's Disease for my sophomore-year
-Science Fair project. The problem: I had no clue how to. And so I learned. Python syntax, NumPy arrays, signal filtering,
-feature extraction, and model architectures. I had entered a brand new domain, and each concept seemed to confuse me in a different way.
-After two months of painfully laborious learning, coding, and debugging, I was finally able to transform raw sensor data into a
-functional and accurate classification model. Somewhere between the first error message and the final 96\% accuracy, I
-had managed to absorb a new discipline by pushing myself into unfamiliar waters.
+But that readiness was tested in September 2024. Somewhat naively, I committed
+to building a machine learning model to predict gait patterns in Parkinson's
+Disease for my sophomore-year Science Fair project. The problem? I had no clue
+how. So I dove in: Python syntax, NumPy arrays, signal filtering, feature
+extraction, and model architectures. I had entered unfamiliar territory, and
+each concept brought new confusion. After two months of relentless reading,
+coding, and debugging, I managed to transform raw sensor data into a working
+classification model. Somewhere between the first error message and the final
+96\% accuracy, I had begun to absorb a new discipline.
 
-If it weren't for my ambition, I would have stopped there. Unfortunately, I realized that a working model on my laptop
-wasn't going to help any Parkinson's patients, and I needed to embed my model into a complete hardware device. This
-task was beyond daunting, as I had to venture into the foreign land of hardware and electrical engineering. With my
-engineering teacher guiding me, I slowly learned everything I needed. After dozens of 2 AM KiCAD tutorial binge sessions,
-I finally had a working
-design for a fully custom printed circuit board (PCB). Two weeks later, my PCB arrived, and after soldering all my
-components, it didn't work. My heart sank. I touched up all the joints with my soldering iron and tried again. Success.
-I wrote some quick software in C++, and I finally had a working end-to-end implementation for my final solution. After
-my project made it to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the judges were impressed by the full
-end-to-end implementation, and my efforts were finally rewarded when I won 3rd in Robotics and Intelligent Machines at ISEF.
+I could have stopped there, but I realized that a working model on my laptop
+wasn't going to help any Parkinson's patients, and I needed to embed my model
+into a complete hardware device. This task was beyond daunting, as I had to
+venture into the foreign territory of hardware and electrical engineering.
+With my engineering teacher guiding me, I eventually learned the basics. After
+countless 2 AM KiCAD tutorial sessions, I finally had a working design for a
+custom printed circuit board (PCB) housing a sensor and microcontroller. Two
+weeks later, my PCB arrived, and after soldering all my components, it didn't
+work. My heart sank. In desperation, I resoldered each joint carefully and
+tried again. Somehow, it worked. After writing some C++ software for the
+device, I had something that actually worked. The project eventually made it
+to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), placing 3rd in
+Robotics and Intelligent Machines. What struck me most wasn't the placement,
+but the fact that six months earlier, I wouldn't have understood any of it.
+
+Throughout high school, I've taught myself disciplines, from Java programming
+to machine learning to circuit design. The Wright Scholar program offers an
+opportunity to apply my knowledge to critical research. I'm drawn to AFRL's
+Sensors Directorate, where I hope to deepen my understanding of signal
+processing while contributing to sensor exploitation technologies. I'm equally
+fascinated by the Human Performance Wing's work with multimodal sensing to
+monitor and enhance human performance. What excites me most isn't just the
+cutting-edge technology, but the chance to work alongside domain experts who
+can accelerate my growth as an engineer and developer. Whether working with
+sensor fusion or biomedical sensing, as a sponge eager to learn, AFRL is
+exactly where I need to be.
 
-Throughout my high-school life, I have strived to constantly learn new things, which is why I am so excited about the
-Wright Scholar opportunity. From tinkering in my bed, I can start working on relevant research problems this Summer,
-which would exponentially increase my learning and comprehension of these subjects. From cutting-edge
-biomedical computing to sensor processing to cybersecurity, AFRL offers exciting venues for me to apply my knowledge.
-For a sponge who lives to learn, AFRL can serve as a reservoir of knowledge, and I can't wait to absorb new information with
-domain experts.
 
 
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