The funny thing about me is that I didn't instantly know the second I saw coding that I wanted to major in Computer Science. I programmed a robot on my robotics team in High School, thought it was pretty awesome that the robot would move in whatever direction I coded it to move, and then found myself stumbling into University undeclared.

Being undeclared in University, to me, meant that I didn't have an end goal yet and I had to find one before I became a fossil at University. Since I was undeclared, I was advised to take my General Requirement classes (classes that all University students must take regardless of major). I was just coasting along taking my Trojan War and Roman Civilization classes (I can confirm I probably know more about European History - which might I add is actual quality tea I'm happy to read more about - than American History) getting solid A's and about 6 hours of sleep a night; it was great.

Fast forward to my Sophomore year, a general requirement class I signed myself up for was an introduction to coding class. With a new environment and new programming language to learn, I found myself enjoying the challenge of getting my code to work. Now, coding was majorly a challenge for that class because, the professor assumed you knew everything about programming and it was more or less here's a homework assignment it's due at 11:59PM, go learn the material by yourself.

And that's how I found myself getting solid B's and C's coupled with about 3 hours of sleep a night; it's not great but I'm doing okay.



As I'm in my last semester now, this major has had more downs than ups. The head of the Computer Science Department knows me, my sister and a friend by name because of how often we've visited his office to bring concerns up on how a course was going. We've also had to fight for Academic Freedom Rights in the classroom and soldier on the honest exam taking way while some students around us clicked their phones on and googled the answers to exam questions.

Oh. Also, it was always me and my sister - with maybe one or two others- as the only girls in class - there aren't many girls in this field and if anything that encouraged me to keep going.

In the beginning, programming was a pile of stress I didn't want to deal with but now, I enjoy coding and actually code some side projects for fun. How did I make the leap from dreading coding to loving coding? Well, I guess you'll have to stay tuned to the roller coaster of a major this has been.

The first episode of a Coding Walkthrough series I'm working on will be up on our channel on Friday - if you're not subscribed already, head over and subscribe HERE!