Allyson is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She was a 2022 Rising Star.

Allyson’s passion for STEM began when she was young. After taking her first programming class, Web Design, Allyson knew that programming was something that she wanted pursue. Her future plans are to go into a STEM career, possibly software development. Allyson has completed Web Design and Python classes, and is currently in a college-level Intro to Information Tech class. In Web Design, she learned how to build websites using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. In the future, she hopes to learn JavaScript and take AP Computer Science Principles. Allyson enjoys coding because it is a problem-solving tool that can create helpful user applications. Her largest project has been a website to help her study for the AP Human Geography exam. She hopes to use Python to make her websites more efficient. Allyson has participated in some of the events offered by Aspirations, which has helped increase her knowledge of IT. She is new to the IT field, but desires to apply her skills in a workplace setting. Allyson is a driven student and participates in basketball, band, Jazz band, Youth Group, National Honor Society, and community service. She would like to help her school form a technology club. This year she is taking a full course load, inlcuding college classes and AP Biology. Allyson is planning to graduate with her Associates degree.

Nimisha is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

Nimisha grew up in a household full of engineers, so her interest in computer science was sparked from an early age. Her interest continued to grow as she took all the coding and computer science courses her school offered. Nimisha is the 2021 MN02 Congressional App Challenge runner-up. For the challenge, she designed a mobile app called, ‘College Finder’ that aids students with potential college searches. Nimisha is also a trained vocalist and has been performing for over 10 years. Nimisha looks for ways to connect her two passions: music and technology. For any computer science-related activities, including app creation and coding competitions, she finds innovative ways to integrate music into them, like digital piano programs she coded in Java, audio players through MIT App Inventor, or recording music for digital publications. Nimisha also mentors middle school robotics teams, she is a Varsity Category Captain in the NSDA Speech Team, member of national honor society and she is the President of her high school Bollywood Club. Nimisha is currently taking online programming classes and working as a part-time math tutor. She has a passion for AI and Machine Learning. Nimisha plans on majoring in Computer Science this fall.

Hannah is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She was a 2022 Rising Star.

Hannah’s interest for computer science started when she was a little kid, watching Star Trek while coding on Hopscotch. In elementary school, she learned about laser cutters, 3D printers, and circuits. She also learned how to use Tinkercad and started to program using Arduino. In middle school, Hannah learned how to code in Python. In high school, she noticed that there were fewer female-identifying and nonbinary people in her technology classes, so she started a special-interest group called the Lovelace Society. As the current leader of the Lovelace Society, she encourages female-identifying and nonbinary middle and high school students to use technology and programming to create art. In college, Hannah plans on combining art and technology with mechanical engineering.

Lily is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

From a young age, she has been fascinated by engineering and problem-solving. Even in preschool, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, Lily responded by saying she wanted to be a “number helper”, which translated into an engineer who solves problems. Lily’s interest in engineering grew as she progressed through school. She was always drawn to math and science classes, and excelled in them. When taking the AP Computer Science class at her high school, she fell in love with coding and the problem solving that comes along with it. She enjoyed the challenge of solving complex problems and loved being able to apply the knowledge she had gained to real-world situations. As she grew older, she became more interested in technology and how it could be used to help people in need. Lily volunteers for a STEM nonprofit organization that supplies science experiment kits to elementary schools around Minnesota. In her free time, Lily enjoys Lincoln Douglas debate and horseback riding. She is passionate about her work and hopes to continue to explore the possibilities of computer software design and AI.

Besides her love for technology, Irene likes to read, volunteer, and play video games. One of her future goals is to become a computer engineer or a cybersecurity analyst. She’s committed to attend the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. She credits her mom for inspiring and supporting her to pursue her technology interests.

Laila is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

Her first exposure to coding was when her 3rd-grade class was shown a code.org video that included well-known athletes, musicians, and actors. The video was meant to expose elementary students to the opportunities and boundless groups of people involved in coding and computer science as a whole. Laila realized that coding didn’t only limit to those running big tech companies or super-genius programmers. She then attended a STEM camp in elementary school where her passion for problem-solving and teamwork began to grow. Her biggest inspiration that made her take this field more seriously was her uncle. He was a tenured engineer at IBM and would dedicate hours of his time to enlightening Laila about all the ways the Earth ran on computer science. She came to understand how different systems we rely on globally interact. The first computer science class she ever took was AP Computer Science A at her high school. She worked with Java and with her classmates to build programs and projects. Now in her senior year of high school, she’s a part of the Women in Computer Science club, which strives to provide a place for girls interested in all things computer science. Laila is planning to pursue Computer Science as a major at University this fall

Adiana is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

Adiana has been taking coding classes since she was in 3rd grade at her elementary school, Robbinsdale Spanish Imersion School, where she also learned to speak fluent Spanish. She is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars. She is currently taking three AP classes, including computer science. In her AP computer science class, she is learning to write code and create apps, websites, and authentications. In her free time, she enjoys singing and dancing. Adiana hopes to pursue a career in Computer Science at Emory University next year.

Sabreen is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She was a 2022 Rising Star.

Beginning in elementary school, she explored her interest in STEM through camps, activities, and classes. In middle school, she was involved in Math League and coding camps. Sabreen has taken AP computer science classes in high school, which have expanded her passion for technology. Recently, she has participated job shadows and was mentored by a Senior Director at Microsoft. Sabreen participated in a University of Minnesota summer camp where she learned how to apply Python to analyze data sets and experiment with machine learning. In summer 2022, she attended the Wharton Global Youth “Future of the Business World” program where she designed and created prototypes that solve real-world issues. She is interested in how technology can improve businesses. In August 2022, she opened a small business on Etsy, BeaniesStickerShop. Her shop has been open for 6 months, and she currently has over 3,000 views, 1,400 visits, and 40 orders from her shop. In school, she participates in DECA, National Honor Society, dance, and Model United Nations. She plans to study in the computer science and business fields and hopes to motivate other young entrepreneurs to follow their aspirations.

Brianna is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She is currently a junior at Wayzata High School and an aspiring computer programmer ready to change the STEM field for women and girls. In August 2022, Brianna was accepted into Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, where she created multiple websites ranging from a personal portfolio to a Stop Asian Hate campaign site. In this program, her love for computer science flourished, and she was able to learn from accomplished programmers in a partnership with Snap Inc. In addition, she is a first violinist in the top youth orchestra of the Greater Twin Cities’ Youth Symphonies, a member of Business Professionals of America, and a part of the speech team at Wayzata High School.

Jacqueline is a State Honorable Mention.

They were a Rising Star recipient in 2022 and 2021.

She has always enjoyed meeting new people and having fun. Jacqueline joined a FIRST LEGO League robotics team in fifth grade, then moved to FIRST Tech Challenge in eighth grade to senior year of high school and recently competed at this year’s MN State Championship where her team won the First Place Inspire Award and will be competing in Houston, Texas in April. At the 2022 State Tournament, she received a Stratasys Youth Award recognizing her understanding of 3D printing and CAD ability. Her favorite parts of FIRST are building the robot, organizing and participating in outreach events in the community, and leading her team. As the co-captain of her robotics team since 2019, she has helped organize over 200 outreach events and led their team to the MN Robotics State Championship for the past four years. Through Jacqueline’s leadership efforts, they were recognized as a 2022 Dean’s List Finalist where they represented Minnesota at the FIRST World Championship. Outside of school, they enjoy playing videogames, doing environmental work, and emceeing at FIRST events.

Mae is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She is currently enrolled in AP Computer Science at her school, Rosemount High School. Her interest in STEM began when she realized how quickly it was changing the world. Her favorite thing about the field of STEM, specifically computer science, is that is teaches crucial problem solving skills and it’s very rewarding. She would love to grow her knowledge of computer science by partaking in personal projects.There are constantly new innovations coming to life that are improving the world that we live in. As she goes through college, and graduates college, she hopes to integrate her coding and computer science skills into the medical field. She has done ample research about the ground-breaking medical technologies that are saving lives. Outside of the classroom, she is a part of the Women in Computer Science club at her school. It’s a group of girls who come together to advocate for more female representation in the computer science profession and to enrich their knowledge of coding. She is also a member of student council, Environmental Science Club, National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, club team softball, cross country and track. She also tutors, hoping to inspire younger peers by her love for STEM. Mae plans on studying biochemistry or neuroscience on the premed track during college. She hopes to take part in changing the world and saving lives by expanding her knowledge and creating new innovations.

Julia Osmolski is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She was a 2022 Rising Star Award recipient and a Certificate of Distinction Recipient in 2021.

She is a Junior who has been learning about and working with technology since she was six years old. She has attended every computer related class her local libraries had to offer and has participated in many computing programs, the more well known ones being Girls Who Code and Reinventathon. She has experience coding with JavaScript, Java, CSS and HTML. She helps her fellow peers during her STEM classes and is eager to learn as much as she can. In her free time she enjoys playing tennis with her family and volunteering at her high school. She participates in Link Crew, Student Council, DECA, Math league, Youth Service Advisory Council, Burnsville Strong and National Honors Society. She hopes to attend University and major in Computer Programming and pursue a career in STEM as a computer programmer.

Alia is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She is creative, inquisitive, and tenacious in her search for solutions to challenges. Her sense of whimsy ensures that solutions and builds are not simply effective and academically and mechanically sound, but also exude an element of joy and fun. This combination allowed her, as a team of one, to earn the title of Grand Champion in the international Wonder League Robotics Competition in 2019. In 2022, these same characteristics led her to be one of 25 recipients internationally to receive the Society for Science Community Innovation Award. Community is important to Alia. She has volunteered extensively in her community, often holding leadership roles, a bright light impacting the lives of many. Alia is also very active in her school. She currently serves on her school’s Student Innovation Advisory Team (generating recommendations for school administration to promote inclusion and enhance student experience), as a First Mate (Link Crew Leader leading activities/mentoring freshmen to promote inclusion, connection, and academic success), and as a Team Captain for the Girls Track and Field team. Always passionate about STEM, Alia co-founded and leads Breadboard, an electronics club empowering students through hands-on activities in electronics, programming, design, and engineering. Alia is a well-rounded individual participating in music, sports, the arts, and of course, all things STEM.

Mikhala is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

She received the Rising Star award in 2022.

She is passionate about providing STEM opportunities for underprivileged youth in her community. In 8th grade, she joined her very first robotics team competing in the First Lego League circuit. Her team made it to state in their first year. After that, she started robotics in team First Tech Challenge, called B.O.B. which stands for Black, Outstanding and Beautiful. Her team is one of the only all-black all-female robotics teams in the U.S. She was the leader of the team and through this, she learned how to code in JavaScript. She self-taught herself Python. This team made it to state in the first year, and later received the judge’s award. She is currently working with the mayor to make her city a hotspot for STEM. As well as piloting a program called Bots for Tots, in this program, she will go to hospitals and give robots to children with extended stays. Outside of robotics, she is a three-sport athlete playing basketball, volleyball, and running track. As well as speaking both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.She strives to help her community in every way possible and inspire everyone to try something new.

Harini is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

In the summer of 8th grade, she reached out to a professor from the University of Minnesota on research opportunities. At the lab, she first learned MATLAB as a way to provide a foundational programming base in any research. Later on in high school, she took AP Computer Science Java and further enhanced her programming skills in object-oriented concepts. Along with Digigirlz and Technology Day Camp at the University of Minnesota, she leveraged free opportunities to get a taste of what it’s like to be a girl in technology.
In 2021, with guidance from a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, she studied the correlation between compensatory exercise and anxiety disorders using R programming. Computational skills have been very helpful to her in analyzing and drawing conclusions. Harini envisions that computing will be integral to her career no matter which path she chooses.
Harini is the co-founder of ionSTEM.org, a non-profit that encourages youth to pursue STEM. Through this foundation, she has organized and led a virtual science fair for students and a girls summer STEM camp. She was awarded the Target TWIST EPIC award (25 winners in MN) in 2019 and the #Girlsofthefuture award (12 winners in the country) in 2021, as a recognition for her contributions to STEM. In addition to learning programming languages, she has published Op-ed work for her local newspaper and writes for her personal blog (sparkies.blog).

Daria is a State Honors Mention recipient.

Her interest in technology was initially sparked by her sister who went into a STEM field as a woman and an immigrant. Her mother always pushed her in academic subjects like math and sciences, and as a result, she enjoyed applying her knowledge. She participated in robotics and other clubs in elementary school and during her sophomore year. In high school, she became more interested in cybersecurity because of a documentary she had watched that only solidified her passion for computer science. She enjoyed researching hackers, and how the world is affected by them. To her, technology was something that shaped her life, and it was something she could use to change the lives of others. In her sophomore year of high school, she took AP CSP which touched on cybersecurity and even had an FBI guest speaker. It also taught her how to program in Python. During this class, the Ukrainian war began, it was one of the few wars she has seen in which technology had such a significant part in gaining an upper hand. From this point on, Daria was sure she wanted to pursue a career in computer science. She took other various challenging courses including various AP and accelerated courses such as AP CSA. Outside of school, she continues to push herself to help others, volunteering with ENGin to help Ukrainian students learn English. She hopes that through technology she can help people all around the world.

Harini Vinod is State Honorable Mention recipient, and was a Rising Star is 2022.

She is a junior at EVHS who is a passionate and sincere student, athlete, leader, and young aspirer in computing. She is highly interested in the world of computers and constantly surrounds herself with activities affiliated with computers. Harini started her own local chapter of Girls Who Code in her school, which she greatly cares for and devotes lots of her time to. She is also an academic computer science mentor at her school, helping kids in computer classes with her experience. She is also a Technovation participant this year and likes to develop apps that serve a purpose in the community in her free time. Apart from the world of computers, she actively participates in several extracurricular activities, including Cross Country, Track and Field, Debate, National Honor Society, Lifeguarding within her local community’s program, and singing Indian Carnatic Music. Harini desires to attend college and major in computer science and further pursue her desire for learning more about technology and how it interacts with the real world on a daily basis.

Brittany Wang is a State Honorable Mention recipient.

Her interest in STEM started with math competitions and clubs in middle school. Since then, she’s taken the initiative to join tech-related classes at school and has become a part of math clubs, Science Olympiad, HOSA, and more. In particular, her interest in coding and its applications in data analysis has led her to self-learn R to conduct research on land parcels and transportation reconstruction, as well as pancreatectomy patients. Outside of these STEM-related activities, Brittany is a board leader in her school’s Volunteer Club, runs cross country, competes in DECA and BPA, and plays the piano. In college, Brittany plans to pursue a major in Statistics, with additional interests in Business, Computer Science, and Biology.