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On December 16, 2025, I was given the exciting opportunity to attend a Girls in CS Panel, where there were 4 college students, from universities like UCLA, SDSU and UC Berkeley. I was able to learn a lot and find out about the whole high school and college experience as they are majoring in Data Science or computer science, fields I’m interested in!

What I Learned

  • They took several AP classes which provided them with critical thinking and rigorous studies
  • Extracurriculars which helped Tanisha were PTSA, being familiarized with tools, and taking CSSE
  • Some of the project-based classes at UCLA makes it so that we should break the project into smaller goals and set timelines which help them efficiently work
  • The CSSE skills are very helpful for college projects
  • They have to break their problems into frontend and backend which help them manage
  • What they used in CSP and CSA have to be used in college as well
  • We went through different steps and they also designed APIs and being able to create a model of OpenAI such as YAML style file
  • It is very important to take the projects down to the smallest pieces
  • For Data Science, they used a lot of different tools which were used in CSA such as github issues, scrumboards, etc
  • Human computer interaction-focused on ideation and making designs that solves issues
  • A mindset for a software developer is to put the users first, understanding their issues, how they interact, and how their needs should be met
  • For internships, they tell you what to do, what you should complete, and how to do it. There is not a much free creative liberty
  • Geo location as a passion project
  • Making digital scrapbooks
  • Developing finder apps
  • Customer interviews and customer research like making a wire frame and observing how certain apps are used
  • Use that user info to app developments
  • Strongest part of her college application was thoroughly describing why she would be a good fit and her aspirations and being able to explain her personal experiences and how it shaped her
  • Aadit Gupta focused on creating impact using computer science and being able to form a nonprofit and spreading his online classes around America
  • Michael mentioned how his ambassador program and being able to collaborate on DNHS helped him grow as a student. He also talked about how his curiosity helped him in computer science
  • An internship highlights technical qualities, however, for college applications, you want to highlight your passions, and what you’re focused on
  • Tanisha focused on being resilient and using determination and putting herself quickly out there as a stronger part of her application
  • General stem classes taught her how to do critical thinking and rigor. She believes that advanced stem classes gave her a lasting impact in high school
  • A skill Aadit wished for earlier was resilience and grit
  • Aadit believes Del Norte prepares well for public speaking even CSSE helps by explaining his thought process and how he believes he can contribute to the future
  • Michael believes that a handful of projects should be taken opportunity of
  • He believes that the freedom to take initiative is very important and how to plan a project and how to work together to solve
  • Tanisha believes that CSP helped her work with things like ChatGPT, and learning how to use her resources in the right way
  • In Michael’s internship he used scrum adjacent, and he decides weekly goals with his group and whether they’ve fulfilled it or not
  • For Tanisha, she worked on projects with her group where they work on tasks based off the group chat, and those includes agile and sprints
  • She believes if you’re in an internship or project, and we can pose the idea of working with scrum and agile methodologies
  • Tips: Data science is a very fast growing field so stay updated and stay in the present and stay up to date and whether we’re working with the trends and being able to work with different AIs such as generative Ai, that makes us a competitive applicant then
  • Aadit believes to stay up to date and try to read the news, but also relax a bit and also have fun while doing it
  • Look closely at what courses are being offered at school and focus on project-based classes
  • Tanisha’s number 1 piece of advice is to utilize resources but also keep in touch with people we hear from, and take advantage of project-based classes such as Mr. Mortensen’s class
  • Anytime we go to network events, it’s important to connect with other people and being able to talk to many amazing, experienced industry people!

My Initiative Now

After listening to many inspiring college students about their experience, I’ve made some goals

  • I will continue on Mr. Mortensen’s CS Pathway in high school so I can get advanced experience in computer science and data science
  • I would like to maximize the rigorous courses I take in high school, so I can prepare myself for a good academic environment
  • I would like to work on more collaboration projects with several other amazing computer science peers, to share our interests and goals together
  • I would like to start a project based on my passion for dance and interest in computer science to be able to code an app or website!