My name is Deneé Lichtenberg, and I am a Materials Science and Engineering major. This will be my 4th year at UCF. In 2022, I graduated from Astronaut High School in Titusville, Florida. One of my favorite classes at UCF was Polymer Engineering. This was a more chemistry-based engineering class, which was exciting compared to all of the previous engineering classes that are more physics based. This class also made me fall in love with coatings and narrow down what I want to do post-graduation. One of my favorite professors at UCF is Professor Beazley. I had her for Chemistry 1 my first semester of college and she was an absolute queen. She genuinely cared about us as students and made sure that we gained a strong foundation of chemistry to follow us through our college careers. She also would check in with us to ensure we were understanding concepts and able to apply them to different real-life scenarios. I love the GEMS program and am extremely thankful to my senior-year-of-high-school self for applying to the EXCEL program. This program puts you with a group of women who understand the struggles you are going through and can be a support group. Additionally, these girls are some of the first friends you make at college, and I am still in contact with my freshman year group to this day. In my free time, I participate in the band programs at UCF, read, go to concerts, go to Universal, and hang out with friends! Some advice for the incoming GEMS students: imposter syndrome is so real and easy to experience as a woman in STEM but remember that you are worthy and deserve to be here.