Hello everyone! My name is Piero Castillo and I am a Computer Science major with a Mathematics minor. I graduated from Cypress Creek High School and currently in my second year in UCF. During these years, I’ve encounter amazing professors, one being Sean Szumlanski. This professor gives life to a difficult subject, Computer Science, by pausing from lecturing and inserting various jokes. He is also very spontaneous, no one can ever predict what he’ll do next, but he still challenges his students with his assignments and tests. A phenomenal professor that not only makes coding fun, but also pushes us beyond our limits. 

Stepping foot on UCF territory, I had no knowledge of Computer Science. Many took it during their high school years, but my high school didn’t offer it. Not just my high school but others too, that’s why I want to be a STEM Ambassador, to introduce Computer Science to K-12 students. In this world now coding is essential in any field, I want students to understand this, but also see how amazing Computer Science is in general, to create anything desired with simple lines of code. If I learned anything from my major is that it’s okay to fail, constantly. As I write code and test it it fails, but failure is the best way to learn. I figure out what went wrong, change the line of code and try again, and even if it fails again I repeat the cycle until I succeed, because I would’ve never succeeded if I gave up through the process. I love making mistakes, because I want to keep learning and I love learning too, but I also love going to new places and adventuring. I’m also a sucker for animals, but not so crazy about insects or reptiles, and a sucker for TV- shows and movies. One of my favorite quotes is from Meet the Robinsons, “Keep Moving Forward”, something I recall every time I fail, and something you can use too.