Hi! My name is Mary Tran, and I am a Mechanical Engineering major and a junior. I graduated from Lake Howell High School in 2014. So far, my favorite course at UCF was Calculus II. Although Calculus I was sort of a pain, Calculus II was great! I found that I started to really understand all the quirks of math and really appreciated calculus. My teacher, Arielle, for Calculus II was actually a graduate student, and she explained all the math concepts exceptionally well and I loved the class because I was able to understand everything! Hopefully, you'll have a chance to be in her class! The Calculus classes are definitely not known to be a stroll in a park, but with the resources of EXCEL and COMPASS, the classes have been amazing. It has been very helpful. This was one of the reasons I wanted to be a mentor in GEMS! The benefits are great and the program helps you succeed in your STEM major. I was unsure of what field of engineering I wanted to study, and this program definitely helped me decide, so I know all of you can benefit from it like I did. Plus, you can meet so many more girl engineers than you do in your classes. We're kinda outnumbered, but that's changing with the help of GEMS! I'm looking forward to meeting you guys, and hope that you'll enjoy this program too! Some of my favorite things to do when I don't have stressful tests approaching are photography, traveling, and baking! Words of advice: Have goals and find the drive to achieve them! Anything is accomplishable if you work hard, and if things don't go the way you wanted, there's always something better. 🙂