My name is Emma Moore, and I am a second-year student. I’m majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in astronomy. In 2021, I graduated from West Orange High School in Winter Garden, FL. One of my favorite classes at UCF so far has been Concepts in Computer Science with Professor Dencker. This is a pre-requisite class for Intro to C Programming, which is a required class for engineering students. I honestly was not looking forward to taking a computer science class, but Professor Dencker made the class interesting and made sure that all his students understood how to program and had fun doing it. My favorite professor so far has been Mrs. Pyle, whom I had for calculus 2. I enjoyed Mrs. Pyle’s teaching style; in that she breaks things down into ways that are easy to understand. She made sure her students understood how to use different formulas and tests instead of just memorizing how to copy and follow practice problems. I chose to join this program as a freshman as a mentee. I wanted a space where I was surrounded by other girls in STEM majors where we could help each other. GEMS offers young women a support system that allows us to succeed in our chosen majors. In my free time, I love to read, go to Disney, knit, and I love the beach.

Words of Advice for incoming GEMS students: Take things one step at a time. Being in a STEM major is hard and time consuming and it can be overwhelming. Don’t try to focus on everything at once or else you’ll start to spiral. When it all gets to be too much, take a breath, step back for a moment, and then keep moving forwards one step at a time.