 What I really like about computer science is that it gives you really easy access to this really powerful tool and you can create anything at any time from anywhere and all you need is a computer. That access really empowers you as a problem solver. Growing up my mom always wanted me to try some programming class especially as I got into high school and I just never got around to it. I never saw it as relevant to anything that I was doing. Finally I came to Michigan. Somehow I found out about this class called Discover CS or EECS 198 which at the time was this one credit course offered just to anyone who wanted to explore the discipline of computer science. That was a really really important experience for me because for the first time I was really being encouraged to do and try and ask questions about programming and that was not an opportunity that I had ever had before. Like that space to be curious and also encouraged regardless of failure just gave me a whole new outlook on the people in computer science and computer science general and that really encouraged me to stick with it and take the higher classes and keep going. Over the summer I got to work on two different research projects with CS kind of at their center and one of them was working with the instructors of Discover CS. The class I took my freshman year and it was analyzing the data that came from that class on students and looking at ways that we can recruit more underrepresented minorities in CS and retain them. One thing that has really encouraged me to stick with the program is the faculty. They really make it clear to you that they care about you as an individual just as much as they care about your success in computer science. It's really important not to compare yourself to other people especially in computer science. Oh I don't want to take EECS 183 because I think everyone's gonna know more than me. I don't think anyone will want to help me and that's so not true. Everybody starts at a different time. It's never too late to get into computing. My name is Sarah Karada. I am a junior in data science but before I came to Michigan I had never written a line of code.