Short Feature with Women's Soccer Senior Sienna Stritter

Senior Sienna Stritter, a computer science major from Menlo Park, California, answers a few questions about student life at Carnegie Mellon, what she's excited for as her college career comes to a close, why she chose her major, and how her major and internships have influenced her career decisions.

1. What do you enjoy about campus life?

One of the things I'm going to miss most about college is being surrounded by lots of other young people. It's really cool to be around people who are at a similar point in life, but who might come from an extremely different background or have very different interests and opinions. Being on a college campus exposes you to so much, but through your peers.

2. What do you get involved in outside of soccer?

I have loved putting my free time and energy towards giving back to the athletic community. I'm so thankful to have had the student-athlete experience here, and I'm committed to helping others have an equally good time. For three years, I have been a Plaidvocate – a mentor in the athletic department's peer-to-peer health and wellness advocacy program. This year I am also a member of SAAC, the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. I am in charge of our new partnership with a local elementary school, where I coordinate a schedule sending over 30 CMU student-athletes a week to help tutor and assist in the classrooms.

3. Tell us about internships you've had.

During the summer after my sophomore year, I interned at Box in Redwood City, California. As a software engineering intern, I got to implement, from scratch, a feature requested by multiple major clients. It was my first exposure to working in a real company, and I loved getting to learn the ins and outs of how a young software company operates.

After my junior year, I worked as a software development intern at Apple in Sunnyvale, California. I was given an abstract goal and told to implement a solution however I saw best fit. Having this freedom allowed me to take total ownership of a real project for the first time. I built a web application from scratch – something I had never done before – and ended up presenting it to various executives within my department. From this experience, I realized that web application development was a perfect way for me to use my computer science degree in a context that would reach real people in a pretty direct manner. I loved the people on my team, the work I was doing, and the atmosphere of the company, so I will return to Apple as a full-time employee next fall.

4. What are you excited about as your college career comes to a close?

Since this is my first semester without lots of soccer, I have more free time than ever before. I have tried to use this free time to do things I've always wanted to do, but never had the chance to. For example, this semester I am a TA for an Intro to Machine Learning course. It was one of my favorite classes last year, and I am learning so much from being on the other side this time – writing and testing homework assignments, grading, holding office hours, and drafting exams. I'm also currently trying to get involved with some PhD students doing a machine learning research project. It's exciting that there is so much going on here, and that as undergraduates we have the opportunity to get involved.

5. What are you hoping to do in five years?

I am very excited to spend the next few years at Apple working as a software engineer. I'm looking forward to applying all the skills I have accumulated at CMU, both in and out of the classroom, to contributing to a company that touches so many lives. Maybe not in five years, but eventually, I would love to return to school and get another degree, perhaps in education, as I have always wanted to be a high school math or computer science teacher.

6. Why did you select your course of study – what class have you enjoyed the most?

Initially, I became a computer science major because I liked my math and computer science courses in high school. I certainly considered changing my major once I got here (to ECE or statistics) but ultimately stuck with it, and I'm so glad I did. I can see now how computer science is applicable to almost every field of industry – medicine, engineering, transportation, finance, etc. – and it's great to have that flexibility for my future career.

My favorite class has been Introduction to Computer Security. It was the first time I really saw programming in the larger context of the "real world" instead of in an academic setting. In the course, we got to be "hackers" and try to attack or break different programs. It has definitely made me a more conscious and diligent computer scientist!

7. What class would you recommended as a MUST TAKE class at CMU?

Obviously, as a computer science major, I'm a little biased. But I think everyone should take an introductory computer science class, like 15-110 or 15-112. No matter what your major is or what your career plans are, having an understanding of the capabilities of computer science is incredibly beneficial and can set you apart.

On a slightly different note, I think everyone should have the experience of being a TA! It's a great opportunity to help other students and to really reinforce your own understanding of the material. It also allows you to develop a relationship with a professor, who can become an extremely valuable mentor.

8. What have you enjoyed about living in Pittsburgh?

I've really liked getting to live in a different part of the country. I'm from California so I have enjoyed experiencing the different seasons here. It's also been fun to explore some of the different neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, and to try a lot of great food!