As the program commences, we've already gotten straight into learning. We've had 2 guest speakers so far (Today's was a woman who helped create the flying car The Transition and she works for the company Terrafugia), a class on electric circuits using breadboards Arduino's and some coding, and we broke into our Capstone Groups and met our advisors. One thing I've noticed that has interested me a lot was that almost all of the advisors are POC (People Of Color) and there are a few WOC in charge. This is very empowering to see because the woman who is in charge of the Biomedical capstone class which is where I am, is a woman of color and it is so cool to interact with a woman of color who is in the STEM field. In my biomedical engineering capstone group, we brainstormed ideas of what it was that we wanted to create. We thought about prosthetic arms and legs, artificial organs like an artificial pancreas for those who have diabetes, and genetic modification through prenatal vitamins for pregnant women to prevent certain diseases in infants.

I am going to be participating in the Envision NYLF Engineering and Technology camp this summer. I am really excited to be joining the program because it will give me the opportunity to deepen my understanding of engineering and technology while being hands at my dream school, UC Berkeley. I haven't learned much about engineering and I have basic knowledge of technology so this camp will really help me expand my knowledge.

I am looking forward to working with other people my age and sharing ideas with people from across the nation and some may even come from across the world. I chose this program because of my passion for Biomedical Engineering and I wanted to expose myself to things similar in that field in high school to see if it was something I truly want to pursue. I believe that participating in this program will help me decide on whether or not I want to major in bioengineering or in any engineering careers.