"I'm Riya, a second-year MIS and Economics major at UT Austin. I was home for the holidays going through some old boxes when I found a pile of yellow bricks and some batteries. I was taken back to my eleventh birthday when I got LEGO house set and a DIY electricity kit as presents. My two best friends and I ditched the instruction manuals and stayed up all night building our own loft with a "windmill" in the backyard that "powered" the little lightbulbs inside. I've loved putting pieces together and creating cool things for as long as I can remember.
If someone told me that creating and tinkering were signs that I could excel in a career in science and technology, I may have considered it sooner. But that wasn't the case. Instead, I was convinced that I needed a certain grade in calculus and 10th grade chemistry to even consider STEM. Needless to say, I didn't make the cut. I only later realized that there's no clear-cut criteria to be in tech. You just have to want to learn.
In a world where middle schoolers seem to be coding like engineers and people my age are already entrepreneurs, it's easy to feel left behind. I sometimes feel like it's too late for me. Luckily I go to a great school in a great town where lots of people are taking the off-beat path to pursue the things they are curious about and fascinated by. It seems like everyone's always learning. I know that there are challenges to being a newcomer in the tech world, but events like the Re-sonate convention help break down the barriers and connect you to people who have the experience and resources to get you where you want to go."
- Riya Solanki, 2nd Year, MIS & Economics Major
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