Hello! My name is Kirsten Hawk. I am a junior at Spelman College located in Atlanta, Georgia. I am majoring in Computer Science with a double minor in Mathematics and Spanish. I have chosen to pursue a degree in Computer Science because I have always possessed an interest in computers and computer software. As a child, I was continuously chastised for disassembling our computer just to see what was inside and how it worked. I am fascinated by the fact that a computer is basically made of metal parts and series of zeros and ones, but has the possibility to be smarter than a human. I hope to learn everything I can that pertains to computers.

I have always had an extreme thirst for knowledge. At a young age I took to heart the saying, “Knowledge is power.” My yearning for learning led me to accept the invitation from People to People Student Ambassadors to travel to Malta, Italy, and France. Through my journey I learned that knowledge is a common denominator of all cultures. I try to broaden my mind by taking challenging classes and reading often. Knowledge and I will always be inseparable.

I feel pure joy when I am helping others. I discovered in sixth grade that my favorite services are tutoring and mentoring other students. I feel that by helping others, I also help myself. My involvement in the community shapes my character. I believe that knowledge and community service is necessary for living a fulfilled life.

For the summer of 2011 I was accepted into the Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science under the mentorship of Dr. Malcolm LeCompte at Elizabeth City State University. Our team, the ECSU Ice Shelf Investigation team, was tasked with determining whether changes have occurred in the Elizabeth City State University Ice Shelf's size and shape over long intervals of time. The objective of the project was three-fold: provided a quantitative description of the disappearance of the ECSU Ice Shelf from 1972 through 2003; validated the grounding line’s actual location; and surveyed the Antarctic coastal features that may have experienced climate related change.

While attending Spelman College, I hope to gain experience in different fields of Computer Science. Already I have worked with an Apple application entitled Xcode that builds programs and a video game application, GameMaker that I used to construct a full computer game. I hope to do research on Robotics during my junior year. Immediately after graduating from Spelman College I want to attend graduate school. After gaining a Master’s degree in Computer Science, I hope to work as a software programmer.