My name is Elise Meyers, and I am a second year Molecular Microbiology major here at UCF. I am from Cape Coral, Florida, where I graduated from Cape Coral High School in 2025. My favorite class that I’ve taken so far is The Invisible World. It’s an introductory microbiology course that goes over some of the basics in the subject. I enjoyed the course because I not only learned technical knowledge, but I also learned things that explain everyday phenomena such as food spoiling and how to prevent it. My favorite professor I’ve had is Professor Yeargain, who I took Biology I with. She has a great way of explaining even the difficult concepts and always taught exactly what we needed to know to succeed in the course. She made class interesting and easy to follow by giving examples and anecdotes for the material, which also made content easier to remember since we had a real-world example to connect it to. I decided to become involved in the GEMS program because I knew it would be a good way to meet new people, specifically those in a STEM major. Since those people are likely to be in my STEM classes throughout college, I wanted to meet them early and build useful relationships. One expectation I have for the GEMS program is that the people in the program will be supportive of each other. There’s always going to be difficulties, especially with classes, so it’s highly important that we are there for each other within the program. Classes are not the only important part of life though, and it’s important to have balance between school and social life. Personally, some of my hobbies include playing tennis, baking, and scuba diving. One piece of advice I’d give is to surround yourself with people you want to be like. If you are friends with motivated and driven individuals, you’ll often find yourself picking up those characteristics.