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I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2020. This blog is archived and no updates will be made to it.
November 25, 2019
A few weeks ago, I shared my story about being suspended from school for gaining admin privileges on my school-issued laptop when I was in high school. But I haven't forgotten my pledge to enable the future generation to #HackForTheFuture. That's why I'm excited to announce the Hack For The Future Scholarship. Every year, one McKinney ISD high school student will be gifted a brand new laptop to replace their school-issued laptop. This award will enable a student to further their exploration of technology without being hindered by the school administration's iatrogenic barriers.
If you know a high school student at McKinney ISD who is deeply passionate about technology and feels hindered by their current resources, please share this with them; I encourage them to apply.
While I would love to offer this award to more students than just one, this is as much as I can afford to bestow upon students at the moment.
Four years ago, I was unable to purchase a new laptop (given that I was a broke teen) and as a result was stymied from being able to run a lot of CS-related applications on my school-issued laptop. I don't want the same thing to ever happen again. Now that I have a bit of money to spare, to which I attribute having a non-school laptop, this is my very small contribution that I hope will enable a student who isn't as fortunate to be able to buy their own non-school-issued laptop, so they will not be encumbered by the school's limitations and will be able to truly learn whatever technologies they want. I wouldn't have been where I am today had I not left McKinney ISD and been able to use a personal laptop. I want to give back to my community and ensure the injustice that occurred to me will not happen again.
More details here: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~wang/hackforthefuture
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