Liliann Ulysse Awarded Aspire2STEAM Scholarship

Activist Software Engineer rewires communities for the better

DAVENPORT, IA, UNITED STATES, November 4, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Aspire2STEAM.org, which provides educational scholarships and mentoring to young women and girls who are working towards careers that require education in science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math (STEAM), has awarded Liliann Ulysse a LEGACY scholarship.

Liliann, Aspire2STEAM’s inaugural Legacy Scholarship recipient, prepares to conclude her college career at Howard University. The computer science major has by no means had it easy across the past three years. Her father tragically passed away her freshmen year, yet this hardly prevented the senior from achieving success. Following her father’s passing, Liliann sunk herself into her studies and aiding others — and now she looks towards a sunny horizon.

Jim Anthony, tech executive and cybersecurity leader, sponsored Liliann her freshman year, and every school year thereafter— therein pioneering Aspire2STEAM’s Legacy program while enabling Liliann to see the sunshine. “It makes me happy and proud to know that I’ve helped her,” said Anthony. “The tech world is very unforgiving, and we need vigor, people who keep their eyes on the prize, people like Liliann.”

Since high school, Liliann has known that her calling in life is teaching. Before commencing college, she worked as a Junior Teaching Assistant and Research Intern at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, teaching Python and utilizing code to advance mesoscale meteorology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Liliann even taught Python to elementary and middle school students over Zoom, something she still happily undertakes today through the Blacks at Microsoft Saturday Code Academy.

As a black woman in STEM, Liliann aspires to expand technological literacy and representation among minorities. To pursue this mission, Liliann became the Pre-College Initiative Chair for the National Society of Black Engineers in her junior year — where she organized college tours, community service events, and panels to promote and protect black spaces within tech. Currently she champions similar initiatives as her chapter’s Chief of Staff. “Leadership is intimidating,” Liliann asserted. “But before metal becomes unbreakable, it’s soft. Then the fire cools down and boom! The iron’s suddenly steel.”

While Liliann might have a calm steel mind, her excitement is anything but cold. “I love to travel. It’s an amazing experience to visit cities and connect with others. Liliann, a New York native, has lately become familiar with the West Coast. In the summers of 2022 and 2023, she interned as a Software Developer in Seattle for Amazon. This past summer, she interned as a Software Engineer in California for Netflix, who offered Liliann a full-time position.

Work and academia might seem to govern Liliann’s life, however, it is not code that guides her — but community. “The world’s impossibly huge. You don’t realize what opportunities are in another state until you actually go there. I’m repeatedly impressed by just how likeminded we all are, regardless of our backgrounds, even if someone’s on the other side of the country.”

A particularly impactful experience for Liliann occurred in 2022, when she visited South Carolina. There, she helped several local organizations. At a Title 1 high school, a school largely populated by low-income students, she spoke about perseverance and the importance of education. “College is scary. There’re so many financial and social stigmas that need breaking down. More than anything, I want people to learn and chase their dreams. And we can only cultivate that through encouragement.”

Also of note is Liliann’s work to revitalize a South Carolinian YMCA; to raise mental awareness at Benedict College; her role as a Chapel Assistant at Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, an interfaith church devoted to uniting the world’s diverse religious landscape; her apprenticeships at Management Leadership Tomorrow and Rewriting the Code, two nonprofits seeking to empower underrepresented business and STEM leaders; and her membership at Black Girls Code.

“So many young adults have a laundry list of accomplishments that goes unrecognized,” commented Cheryl O’Donoghue, Founder of Aspire2STEAM. “We’re therefore keen to right that wrong and magnify those, like Liliann, who eagerly improve society. It’s not every day you meet someone already rewiring the world.”

About Aspire2STEAM

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Established in 2018, Aspire2STEAM.org is a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has earned Guidestar’s Gold Seal for accountability, integrity, and transparency. Over the years it has become known for its scholarship and recognition program to support young women and girls who are working hard — aspiring — to achieve careers that require education in science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math. Aspire2STEAM is committed to helping women and girls break the incredible barriers of scholarship award inequity, rising education costs and student debt, and the real, ever-present opportunity barriers that keep them out of most male-dominated industries.

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Cheryl O'Donoghue
Aspire2STEAM
+1 630-253-8861
email us here

Congratulations to Liliann Ulysse, LEGACY Scholar!