What major are you studying at Blue Ridge CTC?
Software Development Engineering
Why did you select your program?
I selected my program because I’ve found coding interesting since I was in 6th grade. It was a little bit of a journey picking it up though, so I didn’t really get into it fully until 11th grade. Coding to me, is like a puzzle. You have a problem you need to solve and you create the code to solve that problem, and usually there’s not only one answer, so it allows for you to think so many different ways. I also found that for me it’s a great mix of creative and analytical thinking.
Explain one thing you enjoyed about your time at Blue Ridge CTC.
One thing I enjoyed about my time at Blue Ridge was the professors. The way college is talked about in high school, it really scares you, well at least it scared me. They made it seem like your professors were just there to teach and they would not care whether you passed or failed. I found that my professors were so kind and understanding. It was really hard for me to grasp that I had to actually create time outside of class to do my work, instead of doing it during class like I did in high-school. Thankfully, my professors were understanding and gave me grace during the times where I could not push myself enough.
What are your current goals after you graduate, and how has Blue Ridge assisted you toward those goals?
My current goals after a graduate are to become a front-end web developer, because those are the jobs that I’m seeing right now and it’s what I started with, so it has a special place in my heart. But long-term, or on the side, I would also really love to become an educational game developer. I feel like whenever education was gamified in school, I picked up on things soo much faster. It was so much more immersive to me because it didn’t feel like I was learning. I also think it can provide a different avenue of learning for different learning styles. What works for one person, might not work for another, I think having different teaching methods is important, which I hope my educational games can provide. I would love to create educational games that can provide the same experience I enjoyed, specifically in either web games or VR.
Blue Ridge has assisted me in these goals by first, providing me the education to be able to do these things, but also connecting me with the right opportunities to be able to practice my skills in the workplace. I was able to get an amazing internship by the networking skills taught and events held by Blue Ridge and the First2 Network. I feel like educational games is a really niche area in tech and especially in WV, so when I saw this internship opportunity it just blew my mind. That’s why I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to do my current internship, it’s giving me great experience. I’m glad I was expected to complete an internship to complete my degree here because by myself, I’m not sure I would have thought completing an internship was as important as it’s proved to be.
What advice would you offer to current and future students?Â
First, I would say learn how to manage your time. What’s different between high school and college is that in high school you go to your classes everyday, so you have time to do your work in class and any questions you have you can ask right then or the next day. In college, you go to class once, maybe twice a week. So it’s so important to find time to do you work and give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. Then, if you don’t end up using all the time you allotted, you have more free-time, but allotting yourself that time gives you that leeway. It’s definitely easier said than done, because it took me all four semesters to somewhat put that into use. Second, take advantage of the different grants. Those were also extremely helpful in my college career and alleviated financial stress. Finally, if you can, it’s great to try and attend some campus events. It helps you create connections and you’re way less intimidated by faculty and asking for help with things.
