Hi my name is Jamila and I am your future Doctor, Engineer and/or Scientist! I’m a nine year old girl and in fourth grade. I attend Mission Dolores Academy in San Francisco, California. I live with my mother and brother and my daddy lives in heaven.

My favorite subjects are Math and Science.  My Science teacher nominated and recommended me to the NYLF pathways to STEM program to represent MDA and they invited me to attend their summer program.  The NYLF pathways to STEM program will be held at the University of California in Berkeley this summer (overnight for a whole week!). They said I was selected because my teacher recognized me as a student “who already demonstrates exceptional maturity, scholastic merit, and leadership potential at my young age!”  The letter I was awarded said they picked me to go because I showed natural abilities and potential in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The STEM program helps develop and produce the next generation of innovators, Doctors, Scientists, Software developers, and Engineers. It also has hands-on workshops focused on five skills that are essential to success; self-management, time management, communication, collaboration and goal setting, all skills needed to acquire leadership and academic and career success. The program will give me the opportunity to explore a future career in three exciting STEM pathways; Medicine, Engineering, and CSI (crime scene investigation).

I would be able to explore the world of Medicine, discover how to program a robot, and learn about detective work and crime scene investigation. I am most excited about the Engineering class called: Bots & Programming. I would get to program mBots robots, which they use to compete in a robotic challenge, and Medicine: The Incredible Human Body class where students get to examine parts of the human anatomy focusing on the heart. I would get to participate in a dissection!! I am very excited about that!

My mom is a single parent because my dad is in heaven and she's on disability. She has Lupus, Ulcerative Colitis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. My mom said the STEM program costs too much for her to handle alone, $2,494 to be exact!  She said maybe we can fund raise so I can go! I really want to go and use this opportunity to continue my love for Science and Medicine. I’ve wanted to be a doctor and engineer since I can remember and I’m only 9! Knowing my mom is sick, I have always wanted to help her.  I remember watching a cartoon called Doctor McStuffins  where this little brown girl (like me) cures all her stuffed animals that come to life, so I asked my mom to buy me the doctor McStuffins doctor bag so I could cure her. I  remember when she would come home from being in the hospital and she would be lying in bed I would use my stethoscope and blood pressure cuff to check on her, then I would  give her a fake little shot, lol. She always smiled at me and said “You’re my little doctor, you made me feel better!”  Ever since then I wanted to find a cure for her diseases. I have gone to so many doctor appointments with her and I always ask the Doctors the same thing: are there any cures yet? And they always say the same thing, “Not yet but we’re working on it!”  Well I want to find one. 

She also has a degenerative knee that they can’t do an operation on because of the dangers with the Lupus so she wears a brace. I’ve gone several times with her to get her different braces for her knee and I talked to some of the engineers who make the braces, some of them were pretty cool and showed me pictures of some of the braces they make for animals.  My mom always says they haven’t made a perfect knee brace for what she needs, so I want to make one for her so she can walk anywhere with me.  I told her when I grow up I’m going to build a floating chair so people that can’t walk can go anywhere, not like wheelchairs.  When I grow up I want to find a cure to help my mommy and help other kids’ mommies too.  My mom said if I do well in Math and Science that will help me on my road to being an Engineer and/or Doctor.  I’m proud to say I’m one of the top students in my school for Math and Science.  I still have my first stethoscope from when I was three years old. I told my mom I want to keep it because I will take it with me when I get to Stanford one day.

Please help and donate to make it possible for me to continue my journey in Science and Medicine and attend this summer NYLF forum pathways to STEM program!  Thank You! Jamila