Solimon Khesrawi
Growing up in America as a minority gave me an advantage in society and brought opportunities my way. Afghanistan is a war-torn country and being born in Seattle placed me in land of opportunities to become successful. Religion has also played a big role in my life and as a Muslim it gave me character and morals. My family is traditional, and every year we observe Eid and Ramadan. These religious events brought the family together, strengthened my faith, and most importantly worked on myself.
I always had ambition to outperform my peers. I aimed to be first in everything whether it was in school or sports. The Spelling Bee was one of those moments where I accomplished something in my life. I learned that failure is a part of being successful. As I got older, I was hired by Safeway and gained experience in the retail industry. It taught me valuable skills like time management and teamwork for me to implement into my life.
I remember being eight years old traveling to Afghanistan with my mom, where I saw how much the local kids valued their education. These eye-opening experiences made me realize how many opportunities I had. Being ambitious helped me understand my journey to become successful in a land filled with opportunities. I knew that being a minority in America gave me advantages, and it was my ambition that motivated me to achieve those opportunities and make the most of them.
After hearing about the Martin Achievement Scholarship I was very excited as this opportunity was one I could never miss. Being given the opportunity to even apply and interview made me feel honored. This scholarship will help me bring groundbreaking technology to the healthcare market by integrating artificial intelligence into medical imaging devices to detect abnormalities early on before they become life threatening.
Goals
I look forward to helping food banks by setting up kiosks that are integrated with artificial intelligence so that underrepresented communities can use it to gain access to resources in any language that they speak. As for longer term goals, I definitely want to integrate artificial intelligence algorithms into medical imaging devices to detect early stages of cancer or abnormalities that are crucial to saving someone’s life.
Tips
I recommend students to be open about everything and have a vision in mind to pursue. Having extracurricular activities and community involvement is also a big factor because this scholarship designed to help underrepresented students be able to financially attend college.
