About Me: Kate

Hi there! First off, I want to give a shoutout to my grandmother, Oma, for inspiring (aka kindly asking) me to write this blog. I'm so glad that Ava and An, my lovely friends and travel companions, were also really into this idea. I guess this is the post where I'm supposed to tell you about me, but I would guess that the majority of our readership (hi family!) already knows this stuff...

At MIT, I study Computer Science and Molecular Biology, and I'm really interested in combining these disciplines to improve human health. In terms of extracurriculars, I enjoy being a mentor at Girls' Angle, a math club for girls. As a captain of the Women's Club Soccer team, I also love playing the sport and being a part of such an awesome team. Also, through MIT's Leadership Training Institute (LTI) I have the privilege of guiding high school students in creating and implementing their own community service projects. I'm a proud tour guide for MIT Admissions, and I love taking people around campus and sharing what the "real MIT" is like. The truth- there is no one MIT, as it means different things to different people. To me, it means a community of incredible people supporting each other as we push ourselves.

Also, MIT means crazy opportunities! They're sending us to Santiago, Chile to teach stuff we love. We'll be teaching coding for 3 weeks- Scratch for 12-16 year olds and Python for Universidad Mayor students. I've always wanted to travel to South America to improve my Spanish skills, explore the incredible natural wonders, and experience new cultures. I love teaching, traveling, hiking, and trying new things, so it should be a blast! While we're there teaching, we hope to go on some fun weekend adventures, and after we're done we're headed over to the Argentinian side of Patagonia to do some hiking.

I'm really excited to be living and traveling with An and Ava, as they're both tried-and-true travel buddies. Ava and I have gone camping and hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and An and I biked across the US together this past summer teaching STEM. That brought my first foray into blogging with mitspokes.com, and I'm excited to continue sharing our adventures (and misadventures) as we teach and travel! First the US, now Chile here we come...