I have always been obsessed with all things data, always bothering my dad about his work and data management, and with the bubbling space that was computer science I found myself being drawn to programming from a young age. I spent most of my childhood free time on my Minecraft Server programming my own plugins and mods using predominantly java and python, which evolved into pursuing computer science at Oberlin College. After enrolling in a few comp-sci courses I found myself exploring a bit, landing myself in a couple psychology courses. Through highschool I'd never been drawn to these classes but suddenly I found myself obsessed with it, even beginning to attend professor research presentations. I was offered the opportunity to help Blair Braun with her research and immediately jumped to the idea!
Research readings, writings, and critiques became a heavy aspect of my learning at Oberlin to the point that in my free time I've found myself seeking out research articles that interest me alongside my work as a research assistant in a couple of projects under Rebecca Totton, and I realized I was a "Lover of Learning!" (want to learn more about my research experience? check the research page!
Through most my life I was always a swimmer, only retiring within the recent years (and I miss it so much!) When heading to Oberlin I found myself at this turn of understanding my identity and how it interacted with swimming, which I even wrote an article about which you can find on the writing page! Queerness has been incredibly complex to navigate throughout my life and how it interacts with modern politics in regards to trans "fairness" in athletics. As I grew more into myself, I found my queerness to sit alongside swimming, and not sit as two distinct categories of my self, and I ended up finding myself involved in the brief Queer Student Athlete Group at Oberlin (which is now an Athlete Ally Chapter.) In this brief time I was a part of hosting a "Pride Night" event, highlighting our queer athletes and community found within athletics and ultimately playing a huge role in Oberlin being LGBTQ NCAA Program of the year.
