Hello! My name is Lindsay Bordenkircher and I am a sophomore at UCF! My major is Civil Engineering. I graduated from Leesburg High School, which is about one hour away from UCF. So far, my favorite class I've taken at UCF has been Calculus. The reason I liked this class so much was the material and the professor. I find math challenging, but stimulating. My favorite professor up to this point has been Dr. Moore. Being a math instructor for the EXCEL Program, I had the honor of having him as my Calculus 1 teacher. He was very knowledgeable and passionate about his profession. Dr. Moore also liked to take small breaks during each class and tell us a short story. Whether it was about his little boy or something he found on the internet, it was a nice change of pace and often applied to what we were discussing in class. I was eager to be involved with the GEMs Program because of how influential my GEMs mentor was to me. She helped me with so much throughout the year that I would have never been able to do on my own and I want to be able to do that for future females entering the GEMs Program. My words of wisdom for all EXCEL freshmen are: You get what you earn. You're in the big leagues now. Grades aren't handed out anymore. However, with that in mind, you also need to find a happy medium between working hard and relaxing. Overworking will also lead to a lot of stress and at times you could actually end up doing worse. Find your happy medium between working hard and relaxing and you'll be set! You're at the best school, enjoy it while you can! Go UCF!