Judi's Story

When I was 9 or 10 years old, my mom signed me up for Lego League. It was a competition where a bunch of kids formed a team to perform tasks to solve a problem and find a solution. Not only did we win the competition that year, but I look back on that experience as my first exposure to innovation and programming.

Growing up, I was one of 5 girls in my family. My sisters were artistic and creative, while I thrived with STEM. From my sisters to my friends, I was a bit of an outcast.

My mom, however, my more like me.  She was into STEM and encouraged me to pursue what I liked. I didn’t have to be like all of the other girls. I could find my own creativity and embrace my own path.

It wasn’t until high  school that I understood Information Technology. Wow, did I enjoy it! That’s when I decided this is what I want to do, I want to solve the problems and I want to get my hands dirty. 

I persisted and pursued the next step in my academic journey by joining the University of Cincinnati School of Information Technology. My courses in SoIT are preparing me and setting me up for my future.

As people, we strive for growth and to better ourselves. I started honing my skills and was selected to intern in the ITSC as a Software Quality Assurance Associate. I am tasked with automating the Risk Assessment (RA) System, which currently has about 10,000 users. By creating these tests for the RA System, I am solving a problem. Each test I create is one problem solved – one project complete.