​​As a first-generation college student, Michelle Lam struggled to come to grips with her decision to attend a university located more than four hours away from her hometown. In her last year of high school, her family moved to support her brother at an autism consulting school. This coincided with her father's worsening diabetes. Despite the distance from her hometown and her father's deteriorating health, Michelle continued helping others as a peer tutor teaching English to immigrant middle and high school students.

Michelle is a second year computer science student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is involved in multiple organizations, including Women in Software and Hardware, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Multicultural Engineering Program. Michelle plans to graduate in June 2017 and become a software engineer while supporting other students who are minorities in science, technology, engineering and math fields.