Tell us a little bit about yourself and your plans for college.

I often wandered the playground because I was mixed race. I didn’t fit in or know where I belonged, so I bounced from lunch table to lunch table trying to find my “group.” I believe that this “grouplessness” was my biggest strength and weakness all along. I was able to be a part of and get to know many crowds, but when it came to picking groups, I was always left out.
Entering high school, I found close friends that I connected with not because of shared racial experiences but because of similar personality traits like tenacity and a competitive spirit. I realized that race is a human construct that is only meant to separate, and we’ll only truly come together when our ideas and values are what bring us together not the way we look.
As a now proud member of those who have “grouplessness,” I’ll take these experiences and incorporate them into the technology field. Many programmers aren’t considering race or culture when making Artificial Intelligence or facial recognition programs, so they inhibit a large number of people from using them. With all the cultures and groups I’ve gotten to experience first-hand for years, I’ll make it my mission in college to make race a consideration factor in the creation of new technologies and fight against the techno-racism that pervades unemployment fraud systems, risk assessment tools, and healthcare algorithms.

Isaac from Wisconsin
High School Senior
Tremper High School