Kimberly

My hobby is to work at something in order to create a positive outcome and learn something new. I am active at school, in my community, and in sports. As a senior, I am ASB Vice President, Leadership Representative in the Black Student Union, and a member of the Varsity Basketball team. When I was in middle school I used to be intimidated by the great things that other students did, but now I realize that it's all about what I enjoy to do. Enjoying myself is why I am so active right now. Even though I have done various things in school I have found a world of opportunities outside of the classroom as well.

Working with Design Your Future (DYF) of Autodesk has been the largest and most pleasing opportunity. Since my future is going to be the key to progress for myself I decided that the best way of having a good one was to get some experience from any interest that I may have. When a student enters the world from high school they don't have much time to figure out what to do in order to make a good life from the start. Of course, some may say that you have at least a couple of years, but, in reality, time does fly. So, I figured what's wrong with dabbling a little there and here to know what I want ahead of time. There's nothing wrong with changing my mind, but why not get a head start?

Last summer, I was selected to serve on the Young Women of NASA Advisory Council. My first big adventure with the group was a recent trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. We went for a photo shoot with three astronauts: Commander Eileen Collins, Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, and Mission Specialist Yvonne Cagle. I have wanted to meet Yvonne Cagle for years because we are both from the same town and I really admire her. You can read about that trip in my Johnson Space Center Adventures. I bring a lot of web experience to the council. As a Web Specialist at DYF, I update our web pages, provide layout and do Photoshop design and HTML programming. I also troubleshoot web pages, make recommendations, collect input, and maintain files of sources for future use on our web site. I assist in content development for our web pages, revisions and new features as are appropriate. I also help train other interns on how to use Photoshop for design and layout purposes. When asked what I like best about DYF, I say I like how we work well together. DYF is filled with so many cultures, and we are so different yet we work so well together. Because I have worked in the corporate environment at Autodesk, I'm hoping to share with the YWAC how mentoring has helped me grow both academically and personally.

Through working with DYF I have realized that I love computers. I also know that just because I am not perfect in the books doesn't mean that I am not able to do better in another field that challenges my mind the same way or even more. I love web design and troubleshooting so I figured Computer Science would be my field of study. Because DYF was able to give me the experience with so many different fields of computer work, I also realized that there are parts of it that I would rather not do. Because I know that I love people and interacting with them I concluded that there are numerous jobs where I can incorporate my talents with a computer.

My future goal is to major in business and minor in child psychology because I would love to start my own organization for kids in an urban community and/or school. As we all know, I love computers, but child psychology has nothing to do with intense work in HTML ... but every business needs organization and a good old Website to publicize itself and its business.

So that's me, Kimberly-Ann. If you're a young person wondering who you are as an individual, remember that it's all about you. There may not be a definition for what you want in life, but what's wrong with making one for yourself?