My name is Kalyx McDonald and I am a sophomore at Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU). While growing up being able to solve computer problems, along with learn new things on my moms computer always interested me.  As I progressed in age my curiosity only grew. My senior year in high school I decided to major in Computer Science because of my love of technology. I chose MVSU not only because I acquired an academic scholarship, but because of the environment in the computer science department. As classes began everyone was more than willing to help and the personal attention was tremendous. My professor always told us work hard for four years and you would succeed. This saying has stuck with me since the first day of class and will remain with me. During my second semester of college I joined Women in Science and Technology (WIST). In this organization I realized that I am grateful I have chose Computer Science as my major.

            Entering my second year in college I have had many opportunities in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics field (STEM). I became lucky enough to receive my first internship in Elizabeth City at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) located in North Carolina. Here I did Watershed Watch where I obtained experience outside my field. I was able to do research on Analyzing Factors that Influence Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) with my mentor Mr. Barry Rock from The University of New Hampshire. The factors included mulched covered trees versus bare trees, Poison Ivy, and Wisteria. With that I also obtained estimated tree ages, which led us to the conclusion about competition in the surrounding areas and the tree placement. My current project is entitled TeraScan Curriculum Development and Integration of SeaSpace Technology into the Classroom. I created a curriculum using SeaSpace Technology to integrate into the classroom. The purpose of this project was to generate a training curriculum focused on the K-12 classroom, along with college courses, and outside governmental agencies. The curriculum contains one-hour modules, which as a whole could be presented as a 10 hour course that qualifies as one continuing education unit (CEU) for K-12 teachers and administrators. My mentor was Mr. Je’aime Powell, who also works at ECSU. To help with our curriculum I created a learning module entitled Introduction to Remote Sensing. In it you will learn a brief overview about what is Remote Sensing and how it pertains to the world. These modules will be used when integrating SeaSpace technology into the classes we handpicked from the ECSU catalog.

            After graduate from MVSU I want to obtain a Masters Degree in Computer Engineering and obtain a job creating software. In the future I would like to use my degrees to help other people. I plan to succeed in all my aspirations for future generations. I want to talk to other students in the stem major field and encourage them to obtain their degree no matter what.