Mentor Profile: Meet Sara
We met Sara last October when Bold Idea and Women Who Compute of UT Dallas collaborated on a computer science workshop for girls. Now, we're happy to have Sara on our mentoring team, working with 11–14 year olds at our UT Dallas Arts & Technology location.
Sara is great at bringing in her front-end development experience to support her student team's website projects.
Meet Sara...
How did you become interested in tech and programming?
When I was ten, Neopets was really big among my age group. I learned a little HTML and basic photo editing skills using a program called Corel Paintshop Pro so that I could personalize my Neopets page! The interest stuck with me. I took a Multimedia class in high school, then during my first semester in college I added a computer science major to my degree plan.
What did you study in college?
In May I will be graduating with a BA in Arts and Technology and a BS in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Dallas.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on the front end of two projects using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/TypeScript. One project is accounting software with Trintech, where I am interning, and the other is related to jury duty and is for my senior capstone project with Tyler Technologies. I am also learning more about Android App Development.
What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I really enjoy working with the students and getting to see them having fun learning the languages that I write in every day! In particular, I loved the opportunity to work one-on-one with a student who missed the previous week and wanted to catch up with the lesson plan.
Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
My intermediate schools did not offer computer science. I wish that I knew there were so many free tutorial videos online to help me learn whenever I want!
Is there anything about our mission that really connects with you?
The first time I interacted with Bold Idea was during a 'Girls Go Digital' event, which focused on introducing girls to computer science. That inspired and resonated with me!
