Hi, my name is Gianna Simon, I just transferred to William & Mary at the junior level. I previously went to my local community college in New Jersey, where I am from, through an honors program where tuition was free. I graduated there this Spring with an Associates in Psychology. Here, I am majoring in psychology and minoring in kinesiology and health sciences. These subjects both intrigue me and lend to my future career goal of occupational therapy. I have been set on this career for about a year and a half now. I previously was deciding between being an OT, psychiatrist, forensic psychologist, IO psychologist among other things. Besides my main focus, I have really enjoyed statistics, not necessary through data science. The whole computer thing is new to me. I also enjoy learning about the government and have participated in election engagement projects and worked the polls. I enjoy almost all school subjects except history, and writing. FOr some reason I have never been good them. I also love music, I love many generes but mainly a pop, rock, indie mix. I am so happy concerts are back. I got to see Harry Styles last weekend and it was amazing. Recently got into reading again. This year I read the whole Harry Potter and Hunger Games series. Additionally I like playing and watching sports. I played competitive softball for about 8 years. Overall, I find interest in a broad range of topics and enjoy many things.
There are many things I care about. The obvious ones are my family and friends, and my puppy Peanut. He is not actually a puppy anymore, he is almost ten, but he still acts and looks like a puppy. I care about maintaining meaningful relationships with the people in my life. I care about getting to see the world and experiencing new things. I think it is important to take advantage of everything lif has to offer. I forced myself to once face my biggest fear by swimming with sharks. I really care about doing incredible things while I can so I do not regret it later in life. I also have always cared about how others see me. Not because I want them to necessarily like me, but because I wanted to have made a positive impact on them. If I ever do or say something to someone that I regret or could have done better, no matter how irrelevant, I will feel guilty about it for insanely long. I love volunteering for the special needs community. Working with them is something I really care about. I am super passionate about helping others.
Data science is a new topic for me. I have been familiar with the term and basis of it but never really took the time to understand it. At the beginning of the class the topic remained confusing for me. Slowly, I feel I am starting to grasp it. I think by cultivating information and creating sets, we can help understand certain populations and figure out ways to aid future crises. By having systems to identify populations of need, more systems can be created to target and help these areas. The best predictor of future events since there are no true fortune tellers, is the past. By having systems that analyze past trends, or events in government, or the environment, or even businesses, we can try to understand what went wrong and what worked. The whole idea is very complex and a lot could go wrong. Yet, from the start of the class I have already read about some pretty amazing things that have been done through data science. I am looking foward to becoming more familiar and intutive through this course. I think by the end of it I will have a much greater understanding. I am also excited to welcome you and be one of your first students you teach in this course.