Throughout my adolescence, I struggled with this question:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

And thanks to my parents, who came to this country for education, the gift of even getting to consider that question has never been lost on me. I am acutely aware of how lucky I've been to grapple with my options, and I’ve tried my best to support others in exploring their own: through raising funds to educate underprivileged kids, assisting with pitch events connecting startups with those interested, and actively helping to recruit and immerse students into classical music within my school orchestra.

In my own exploration, I've found fulfillment and comfort in music - both as personal practice and means of connection to audiences and communities like Young Arts. Whether through covering or writing my own songs, creating music takes me back to base emotions that transcend age, class, and career. It allows me to draw parallels toward combating educational inequity, where, similarly, access is the great equalizer in transcending hierarchy. Or navigating markets, where chords and harmonies mirror the predictable, intricate underlying structure of the economy, and improvisation emulates market volatility.

At UT Austin and within the Forty Acres Scholar Program, the focus is on building a future not defined by narrowing my interests, but by orchestrating them into something larger. I've been gifted with interdisciplinary access to explore it all: finance, consulting, music, education, STEM, and beyond - presented with the possibility that perhaps I can be anything.

Major
Canfield Business Honors

Extracurricular Activities 
Texas Undergraduate Investment Team (TUIT)

What drew you to the Forty Acres Scholars Program?
The monetary gift of my scholarship cannot be understated, but what continues to amaze me about this program is the vast commitment of every scholar, staff member, and alum. Nowhere else could I have found a group of peers and mentors so personally and professionally invested. Nowhere else was character so genuinely prioritized on a personal level, through rounds of interviews and interactions with staff and scholars. FASP values morality and genuine intention to make a difference as equally as all tangible accomplishments - that much was clear during finalist weekend, and is even more apparent as a part of the cohort.