On August 28, 2007, I was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, from two young parents,
Roger and Samantha. We had the ideal nuclear family: nice house with a garage in a suburban
neighborhood, a dog and a cat, and my sister and I. Things would soon change, however, as when
I was about to start kindergarten, a life altering event would occur. My father lost his
business, the mortgage was due, but we couldn't pay it. We were forced to uproot our lives
and were stripped of the people we knew and the familiar places we would go to.
We moved into the small town called Winchester, New Hampshire where we rented a small
3-bedroom ranch from somebody we knew. For the most part, it provided the necessities, but it
was missing what familiar elements that reminded me of home. The knobs were falling off the
cabinets, and mold lined the windows. Despite that, we were able to make the best of the situation.
I was young then, but when I reflect on it now, I realize how much I gained from the
financial struggle my family endured that forced us out of our hometown. Even though we were
poor and our lives had been flipped on its head, we always had each other. This taught me the
importance of family and building relationships with people you adore. I was able to adapt to
the unfamiliar environment we forced into because all that mattered were the people I had by
my side. When looking past the façade, I could still see the same family playing Marco Polo
in the pool; the same family that made forts on the trampoline; the same family that cared for
one another. In hindsight, I did not let this drastic change in my life define me and my goals
as an individual nor my family dynamic.
EARLY-TEENAGE YEARS
It was the week before Christmas when we heard a knock on the door from our landlord
informing us of the remaining two weeks we had to pack up our stuff and leave. Despite having
paid for rent, he simply forced us out. The growing relationship we had built with him for
years was completely shattered in an instant. Fortunately, we were able to move into an empty
duplex up the road that we heard about from our grandmother, which would be our home for most
of the latter part of my childhood.
We grew very close with our neighbor, Jim Harrison, who happened to previously be the
chief of police in town. Jim and his wife, Melanie, became family to us. The nights we spent
grilling out on the patio were some of my favorite memories with them.
It was around this time that I had taken a serious interest in computers. I was
introverted at school and didn't have a large friend group, so a lot of my afterschool time
was spent playing video games and meeting online friends. This is also about the time of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which only made my passion for tech stronger. Eventually, I started diving
deeper into the origins of computer technology. I wondered: what did all those green boards do
with all those lines on them and what were all those fans even cooling anyways? Back then, I
couldn't afford my own computer, so I used my mother's computer until I could conjure up
enough funds for my own. So, I got a job as a house cleaner with my grandmother and saved up
enough money to do just that. I was fascinated by it; I couldn't wait to take it apart and
look at how everything worked. That is, until I took it apart and realized I didn't know how
to put it back together, but nevertheless, after a few YouTube videos (and a lot of panicking),
I managed to figure it out.
My parents would talk to other people how I was so "tech-savvy" and would help give them
tech support when they needed. It didn't take long for our neighbor, Jim, to take notice.
He gave me my first commission: "My computer is slow; can you make it run faster?" I thought,
"easy enough, upgrade the memory and replace the old hard drive with a shiny new Solid-State
Drive". But there was one problem that I came across: I've never done this before. Sure, I've
seen it on YouTube, but I've never actually successfully performed it. What if I messed it up
and broke his computer? I don't have the money for that! I had a lot of respect for Jim for
placing his trust in me, especially when I was only 13 years old. After many hours of
researching, however, I successfully completed the commission and had a bit of money in my
pocket. This was only the beginning; I could actually make money doing something that I loved
to do.
HIGHSCHOOL TO PRESENT DAY
As my knowledge of computer tech grew with research and experience, I started to delve
into more complex topics. It was a no-brainer that I would take programming classes in high
school which turned out to be the highlight of my entire academic journey up to that point.
My mentor at the time, Mr. Nethers, answered many of my questions regarding college. This was
a time of many unknowns, coming from someone with a long family line of high school dropouts.
Simply my interest in pursuing higher education led to my family's comparison of me with
Albert Einstein. At the time, I felt that graduating with honors wasn't enough to pursue my
passion for computer technology in a professional setting. A part of me knew I wanted to go
further, but there was also a part of me that apprehensive. I often wondered how I would be
able to afford to attend college, with what money?
When I look back at my senior year of high school, I don't think of the classes I took
or the people I hung out with. No, I think of the long hours in the library researching about
how a poor kid like me could possibly afford to go to college without drowning in debt. I
brought these concerns up to my teachers, friends, even the librarians. Before I knew it,
the answer became clear to me: scholarships, scholarships, scholarships. So, I spent my entire
senior year doing exactly that. I applied to a college that was close to home because I wanted
to stay close to family: that place was Keene State College. In the meantime, I took online
classes at NHTI for free, which helped lower my tuition price.
But, I was still terrified about the price of my tuition. What if even after all the
scholarships, I'm still drowning in debt? All my concerns would be answered on the day I
received my financial aid package. As I sat in the Financial Aid Office with my mother, the
representative we met with pointed to the final number. It wasn't too intimidating at first,
until I noticed the negative sign next to it. "What does that mean?"" I asked her, only for her
to reply, "that's money that you're going to get back from us."" Wait, so I was going to get
paid to go to college? I sat back in my chair, my face turned as red as a tomato, my fingers
tingled. All the work had finally paid off, all those all-nighters, the doubts, the
applications, all of it was for something. I was going to be the first in my family to become
a college graduate, and that is exactly the path that I intend to follow.