This program gave me so much more than I ever could have imagined going into this summer.

I’ve learned so many skills and developed so many new passions along the way, from building Unity environments, to setting up machine learning models, to writing research papers, to learning how to recognize and utilize HCI in my everyday life. I can’t wait to continue working with my CyberScore project into the school year and I’m eager to continue developing all the new skills I’ve learned.

And although those are valuable, what stood out even more to me is the incredible bonds I built along the way. Meeting so many incredible people who have taken very different life paths to end up in VRAC was such an impactful experience. I am so grateful to have met every person in that lab, and I wish I could continue working beside them and getting to know them. It wasn’t until the final goodbye in the conference room that it hit me how much I’ll miss working here everyday. I remember Eliot telling us we’d be crying at the end of the program and I didn’t believe him. After all, I didn’t even cry at my high school graduation. Well guess what, I cried at the end of this summer. If that’s not proof of the impact these people have left on me then I don’t know what is.

Thank you to everyone who walked with me through this journey. I hope it doesn’t end here and I await the day we meet again.