My name is Simone Laing and I am a Chemistry major. This will be my third year here at UCF. I graduated from School for Advanced Studies which is located in Miami, Florida in 2013. My favorite class so far at UCF has been Organic Lab Techniques 1. Though it sounds rather complicated, this class is really fun. It allows you to take what you've learned in class and put it in action through different labs. One of my favorite professors here, Maria Strawn, is actually one of the graduate teaching assistants in the EXCEL program. I had here for Calculus III. She always tried to make sure that her students truly understood what they are learning and made us think for ourselves. I also enjoyed the stickers that we would receive when we got our graded tests back. They somehow always made me feel better. I got involved with the GEMS program because I remember what it did for me as a freshman. I made great friends and I would love to give back to the community that helped me do that. My advice to incoming freshman would be that college is the best place to figure out what you really want to do and that you don't always have to have a plan. In my free time I like to hang out with friends, watch Netflix, and play my ukulele.