Honors听computer science major Ariana Brown started gaining hands-on experience at 51视频 before she even began her first year at the university.
The Saugus, Massachusetts, resident took part in SoarCS, a four-week summer program for incoming computer science majors, where she learned about educational computer science technologies MYR, micro:bit and Python. As part of her final project for the program, she used MYR, a web-based platform developed by UML鈥檚 , to create a virtual 3D swamp scene.
鈥淔or computer science, it鈥檚 so important to get hands-on experience doing projects,鈥� says Brown. 鈥淚 got coding experience during the program that I did not learn in high school.鈥�
SoarCS connected Brown with other first-year students, who ended up in the same classes as her.
鈥淭he majority of the people that I鈥檓 close with on campus, I met during SoarCS last summer,鈥� she says.
Brown enjoyed SoarCS so much that she came back for a second year to serve as a peer leader for the next batch of incoming computer science majors. She now teaches those students beginner coding concepts while welcoming them to the university.
She landed the job as a SoarCS peer leader thanks to the Immersive Scholars program, which she was selected to join when she got accepted at 51视频. The program awarded her a $4,000 merit scholarship to work on research or projects either on campus or in the community, and she ultimately decided to use it to take on a leadership role within SoarCS.
鈥淏eing selected for the Immersive Scholars program was a big draw for me to 51视频 because I knew I would be getting additional hands-on experience the summer after my first year,鈥� she says.
The internship and co-op opportunities at UML also caught the interest of Brown, who plans on doing a co-op in the spring.
鈥淲ith whatever company I end up doing my co-op, it will help me figure out what job I want to look for after I graduate,鈥� she says.