My name is Elizabeth Ozimek‐Newman and I am currently a sophomore pursuing a major in Computer Engineering. I graduated from Crooms Academy of Information Technology, a small 600 student school, where I truly developed a love for programming and computers. My favorite class so far would have to be Introduction to C Programming with my favorite professor, Dr. Lobo. While the class was, indeed, challenging, I found it to be truly fascinating. Dr. Lobo does his best to foster within his students a love for programming and encourages students to pursue their own projects with programming. He always encouraged me to strive to achieve and do better. I chose to become a GEMS mentor because I wanted to help girls entering STEM fields adjust to college life and help them to develop bonds with other girls who share an interest in STEM. When I'm not doing school work, I'm working on planning events and holding meetings as Vice President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) at UCF, and working on programming projects with my friends and learning more about app or web development. In my down time, I curl up with a good book, go to the beach, or spend way too much time watching my favorite shows on Netflix. I highly suggest that freshman get involved with a club, organization, or team. If you find a club that seems even mildly interesting, go to a few meetings and check it out. My friend forcibly dragged me to an ACM meeting last year and this year, I'm the Vice President.. So take advantage of these opportunities. Words of Advice to Freshman: “”Push yourself to try new things and take full advantage of the opportunities you are offered. You never know what doors may open to you because of them. If you don't like it, well at least you've tried and learned for the future. If you do, you may benefit immensely from it.””