We received over 700 essays for the scholarship, but Kayla's was chosen by our staff for being both well written, as well as being a perfect illustration of digital innovation.

Thank you for sharing it with us! Read her essay below:

As a young female experiencing the final year of my high school journey, there are not many job opportunities that I could take up single-handed that would generate a good source of revenue. From most well-paying businesses I'm far too inexperienced, young, or busy with school to work in their field. The jobs left over usually involve waiting tables for tips, earning minimum wage in the fast food industry, or scraping by on babysitting pay. In a flash of pure inspiration, it dawned on me that I could set my own hours, use my unique talents, and be my own boss all for free through one simple tool: the internet.

I eagerly mapped out a list of subjects which I found interesting and discovered through a bit of research the high demand my city's population of females had for fun, peculiar jewelry. Using the internet to get my creative flow of energy going, I swam through countless online store catalogs scouring the accessory section of each website. With a general idea of what type of jewelry was in demand, I sketched off a few designs and dove right back into the sea of information we call the internet to order the most durable, least costly products. The web allowed me to compare prices side-by-side, read real reviews, and even watch a few videos of the products I was about to purchase for my new little business all with maximum time productivity.

Svelte, my artsy and affordable brand, was taking shape as I had a few of each piece in stock ready to be shipped to local buyers but was soon confronted with problems for marketing which were soon solved by, you guessed it, the internet. Free websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were free marketing at its best. Not only did I reach the exact type of audience I wanted to target, but I did it without spending any money. In doing so i was able to get on my feet much quicker compared to having to pay for advertisement and product publicity.

Business was booming, and looking back now I realize that much of my success is credited back to the use of the internet. I was able to pool all the available resources to create inspiration for a product, compare materials and prices sufficiently, and zone-in on my group of consumers all in an affordable, time savvy manner. Fifty years ago young people like myself could have never accomplished such feats that are possible today through the world wide web.