My name is Sarah Rendell and I am a Junior studying Civil Engineering. I grew up in Vero Beach Fl and attended Vero Beach High School before coming to Orlando. My favorite class at UCF so far has been statics because it was my first class that applied the concepts I was learning in physics to real-life engineering problems. Not only was statics my favorite class, but my favorite professor I have had is Dr. Zaurin, who taught my statics course. He made class fun while giving us the resources we needed to be successful in the course. I decided to get involved with the GEMS program because I would love to help the next incoming class get acclimated to college life as a STEM student. For me, I had many doubts and needed guidance my Freshmen year on classes, social life, and balancing everything in between. The GEMS program was able to provide assistance for me when I was a Freshmen, so I want to do the same now that I have gone through it. Advice I have for the incoming freshmen is to plan out your week before the week begins. This way you can see how much time you have for all the activities you want to complete, and hopefully be able to tackle everything with time management.  Outside of academics, I love to listen to music and play music. I have played in the Marching Knights Drumline for 2 years and hope to continue involving music into my everyday life. Additionally, I love hanging out with friends whether it be a Pokémon go day or watching any of the UCF sports games with them.