Hello! I’m Kayla, and I am a third year majoring in Industrial Engineering and minoring in Mathematics and Computer Science. I was born in Kansas, spent many years in Illinois, and graduated from P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville, Florida. My favorite classes this year have been Cost Engineering (Mark Calabrese) and Matrix & Linear Algebra (Katiuscia Teixeira). Although these classes were a lot of work, the professors made learning the material interesting and were always willing to help. I wanted to become a GEMS mentor because I have had many great mentors in life, and I wanted to pay forward all the help that I got, particularly from my own GEMS mentor. As a mentor, I hope to create a welcoming environment for anyone in the GEMS program, even if they’re not my mentee. Regarding advice, I have two main pieces for freshmen. The first piece of advice I have is to go to office hours, even if you don’t think you need it. Going to office hours allows you to build up a rapport with professors, and keeps you on top of things. The second piece of advice is to stock up on Trader Joe’s Garlic Salt. I use it on essentially everything. Outside of GEMS, I love going to Disney, reading books, and rewatching Futurama.