Graduating senior at North Dallas High School, Carol B. stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol ready to present her original app, MealSphere.
Nervous but determined, she leaned on the steady support of her family, friends, and instructors who had encouraged her every step of the way.
“MealSphere was inspired by my family’s passion for traveling and food,” she said. “We often had trouble finding authentic restaurants or stores where we could find ingredients to recreate special plates at home. This led me to realize there was a need for a single platform to help fellow food lovers and travelers like us, and that’s how MealSphere was born.”
The app, which won Rep. Collin Allred’s Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 32nd District, is the ultimate culinary companion.
Instead of bouncing between recipes, stores, and restaurants, Carol envisioned a tool that puts it all in one convenient place. The demo version currently features options in Texas, Washington, Boston, and New York.
Carol’s coding story began in Colombia with HTML. At North Dallas, she experimented with Python and credits her teacher, Christopher Barnhill, for inspiring her to continue her passion when she got discouraged.
“He made me love coding again, and now I learn a lot,” she said. “He made it easier-to-difficult instead of difficult-to-easier. I was so excited. It took me a whole month to figure out how to make one thing appear on the screen, and then it just came to life.”
As she prepares to graduate and continue her legacy, Carol said her time at North Dallas has transformed her for the better. From public speaking and schoolwide presentations to participating in events, she grew to be more confident and self-aware. During junior year, she participated in several organizations and activities, including track and field, cross country, JROTC, Texas Math and Science Coaches Association, and Academic Decathlon. She also served as president of the environmental science club.
“As a fast learner, I get bored with things easily. I learn how to do anything, get good at it, and then I get bored because it’s not challenging; whether it’s easy or hard, there’s always something to do.”
A coder, artist, and academic standout, she now sets her sights on studying neuroscience to one day help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.
“I have seen the fruits of what I cultivated during the past two years,” she said. “My mom told me that we all start somewhere, and something I learned throughout the two years here is that there is nothing that can make you stop dreaming. There is always a way to get out, a way to achieve things, and nothing is impossible.”
