In my freshman year of high school, my earth and space science teacher convinced me to take his data science course. I’m not sure how because I did not like coding, at all, but I came to love it within just a few weeks. It was something about creating something from scratch that I enjoyed. So, after data science, I took AP Computer Science to learn more about programming and to learn another programming language. In AP CS, I had to build a recursive, or a looping, program to calculate the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, a sequence of numbers that increases without bound.
The program had intrigued me: How fast could I find numbers that were how big? It was like a racer driving to get faster times around the track, I wanted to go further. I wanted to find bigger numbers, faster. The recursive approach was only so good, so I spent time developing a better algorithm. In a matter of milliseconds, my program had found a number in the sequence that would take a human decades to find, on paper. This project was my first time pushing beyond limits. It showed me how I could break boundaries with technology. I had found a field that might allow me to do the great things I had dreamt of.
After high school had ended, I wanted to learn more about tech, so I decided to go to college for computer science. I had looked into colleges all over the country, from the most prestigious private institutions to my local community college. The University of Southern Maine seemed to be what was best for me. I got the opportunity to stay close to my family and friends for a few more years and settle into adulthood before my future might take me elsewhere.
In July of 2023, I had my first no-agenda coffee meeting with a member of the Mitchell Institute staff. One hour of my summer was spent listening and broadening my perspective on all the different ways I could make the absolute most of whatever choices I make during college.
A couple of months later, I was invited to the Mitchell Institute’s biggest networking and fundraising event, the Gala.
That night, I met dozens of representatives from Tyler Tech, which is a multibillion-dollar software company, financial firms, and even other universities I had wanted to attend. I got to meet dozens of other scholars, most of whom were still figuring out college life, just as I was.
In March of this year, I went to another Mitchell event, MILE II, that did just as much for me. In just a couple of hours, I made dozens of new connections.
Those two events made me realize that the Mitchell Institute had more connections than I could’ve asked for. Not only are we, as Scholars, able to reach out to the dozens of companies that support the Institute but we’re also given access to a network of over 3,000 other Scholars.
That’s just a small piece of what I’ve gotten from the Institute, though.
In the past few months, I’ve met with several different staff members for many different reasons.
I first met with Jared, the CEO of the Institute. He gave me the opportunity to meet and connect with David Reynolds, an individual known for being one of the best at semiconductor circuit design. The meeting with David gave me invaluable insight into the next steps toward making my dreams a reality.
A few weeks after I met with Jared, I met with Casey, our Scholarship Director. She gave me a push that I needed to start moving forward with my application to one of my dream schools and suggestions for and insight on so many other awesome universities I hadn’t known about.
Coming from a small town, and an even smaller family, I never had significant connections to the outside world. Going into college, I didn’t know how I might make those connections I saw that others had and that I lacked. After engaging with the Institute and attending its events, I’ve truly gained invaluable guidance and countless connections to many different people and companies. Not only helping push me forward in my career but also providing me with answers to so many questions I had about the future.
Just like how programming let me find numbers, in milliseconds, that would take a human decades to find, the Mitchell Institute allowed me to make the connections, in my first year of college, that some might not be able to make in their four years of undergraduate study.