I am a 22-year-old born and raised in Black Diamond, Washington. I have recently graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in Data Science and am now pursuing a Quantitative Finance MS at Stony Brook University. I am excessively driven to pursue my passions, solve challenging problems, and work hard to constantly break down tough knowledge barriers.My interest in Quantitative Finance, Machine Learning, and Data Science began in my senior year of high school when a friend introduced me to penny stocks. I wanted to find a way to efficiently validate my ideas and optimize my trading, so I thought, why not do it with math and computers?Since that experience and until I came to Stony Brook, I had been learning quantitative finance entirely on my own. It was an arduous journey, but regardless, my drive and passion for the subject kept pushing me forward. I can now say with much pride that I am pursuing a Master's degree in QF, excited to build upon and further develop my passion.