My name is Vi “”Vivi”” Pham and I am a Pre‐Professional Biomedical Science major in my senior year at UCF. I have lived in Orlando all my life! I attended elementary, middle, and high school all in the Orlando area. What can I say? I just love my hometown! In 2014, I graduated from Winter Park High School with Honors and International Baccalaureate diplomas. I loved being involved in school, so transitioning to UCF I had an awesome time taking in part of all the clubs here! Aside from extracurriculars, I was very thrilled with all the classes at UCF. One of my favorite classes so far is Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases with Dr. Putzer. It goes without saying that a cool class isn't cool without a cool professor, and Dr. Putzer was beyond cool! Not only was he a great and funny instructor, he shows faith in you even when you don't have faith in yourself. He sincerely cares about you succeeding above just academic means. He encourages you to be the best student and person you can be. He takes his time to get to know you and is always available to assist students. It's hard balancing my social life with academic life, but my GEMS mentor and the program helped me push through my freshman year successfully. This encouraged me to become a mentor to provide the same help and care to future girls in the program. GEMS means so much to me and it's more than just a program‐ it's a family you can rely on, knowing no matter what hardships you're facing right now there are people there to help you and guide you through it. In my free time I love to watch Korean dramas, Skype/FaceTime it up with my out of state college fiends, and go to all the fun/cool/wacky UCF events with my fellow Knights. Advice: Just do it‐ whatever it is you're thinking of, just do it but do it to the best of your ability! Study the hardiest you can study, be the best person you can be, and enjoy life to the fullest. Don't leave room for regrets! The grades matter, but don't let it control your mindset otherwise it becomes a chore. You gotta want to do it, and who wants to do a chore?