Hello, my name is Sam Signorella, and I am a third-year Civil Engineering major at UCF. I graduated from Naperville Central High School which is in Naperville, Illinois about 45 minutes outside of Chicago. My favorite class so far related to civil engineering has been Statics, which was taught by Professor Ricardo Zaurin. I loved his class because of his attention to detail and the compassion that he had for his students. It’s not often you have a professor that is genuinely so excited about teaching and helping his students learn. I decided to get involved in the GEMS program because I wanted to find a community of like-minded women who were going through the same thing as me. I fully expected to get good advice from professors, classes, studying, and stress relief. I have been overjoyed to make so many new friends with girls who can relate to me about school stress and classes. We even work on homework together, so it’s a fun opportunity. For incoming EXCEL or STEM students, my piece of advice would be to learn at your own pace in your unique way. It is unfair to compare yourself to other students, even if they are your best friend. You have two different brains and therefore are two different people who learn differently. If it takes you longer to learn something, that’s OK; that does not make you unintelligent. Finally, away from school, I love to read books, listen to music, go to the gym, go line dancing with friends, sing in the UCF women’s choir, and watch Gilmore Girls.