Hi!! My name is Tanisha Gandhi, and I’m a second year Computer Science major with a Linguistics minor and a Data Science minor. I graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool in 2024, which is in Parkland, Florida. One of my favorite classes I’ve taken so far is American History to 1877 (AMH2010) with John Sacher. This class covered one of the subjects I’m most fond of, history, and Professor Sacher’s lectures were super interesting. He taught the class as a connection of engaging stories, painting clear pictures of how everything happened and showing us the connecting threads to explain the why. Plus, I learned a lot of things about early American history I can now use in everyday conversation, which is super fun. My favorite professor is Professor Joseph Shack. I took History of the English Language (LIN4105) with him and loved every second of it. His passion and curiosity towards language permeated his lectures, which I really appreciated. He often latched onto one specific idea or aspect of a certain part of language or culture and tell us more about it, at a depth much greater than what we would “need to know”, using his own research and things he himself had noticed.

I decided to get involved with the GEMS program because I have always felt the lack of women in my STEM based classes growing up, so a program specifically for women in STEM was incredibly appealing! The program dissolved the clinging feeling of isolation I felt as a woman going into a Computer Science major as I connected with other women in CS and other STEM fields. Another reason I got involved was to have STEM related events to attend, whether academic or networking based. My expectations for the program, mentors and mentees alike, is to maintain the friendly, constructive environment I was able to experience in my freshman year and to support each other. Away from school, I love to learn languages, listen to music, create art, craft, crochet, and write. 

My words of wisdom to any incoming EXCEL students are to figure yourself out as much as possible. Learn your best study habits and practices through trial and error, figure out what types of class schedules work the best for you, and find where your work-life balance lands. College is a time to get to know yourself, and a time where everyone and everything is changing, so be patient and attentive to what you need, what works, and what doesn’t work. You got this!