After receiving many amazing submissions for Her Campus and Zinch’s “What’s Your Dream Career?” scholarship contest, a winner has officially been selected. Shannon Harrison, a high school senior from Utah, entered the contest by simply telling us what her dream career is and how she is pursuing it. Now, she is the deserving recipient of $1,000 in scholarship money.
In her short, 500-character submission, Harrison embraced her inner nerd by telling Her Campus and Zinch:
“I’ve always said a professional nerd when I grow up. I love making computers do things so humans don’t have to. When I was 16 I got an internship at a programming company, and since then, I’ve done small parts on many of the large projects my company works on, like creating a dialog box and designing a user interface drop-down menu. This year I was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the class of 2016, and I want to learn even more professional nerdiness.”
Zinch was lucky enough to speak with Harrison and feature her on their blog www.morethanatestscore.com. Harrison’s drive, dedication, and career motivation is extremely evident throughout this exclusive interview:
You’ve stated your dream career – what would be your dream company to work for?
When I was a kid, I wanted to work for Blizzard, because I would get free games. But now, I’ve actually done an internship being a computer programmer, but using LabVIEW to control machines, not making games. Now I want to do more with LabVIEW and robotics, so I might want to work for National Instruments, or maybe even start my own company.
What do you think is the coolest technological innovation in your lifetime (so far)?
3-D movies!
What’s a personal interest or hobby of yours that people wouldn’t suspect at first glance?
I love knitting.
How are you more than a test score?
Many things make me more than a test score, but my internship is a great example of how I’m more than a test score, because programming involves being a whole person. I don’t just have to get an answer right – I have to be creative in finding a solution to problems that don’t have an answer key, and I have to look at the many ways that it could be done, and decide not just which is right, but which is best, and I have to be good at working and communicating with other people. These things couldn’t all be measured by one simple test number, but they are all things I can do well.
Congratulations to Shannon Harrison and we wish you the best of luck at MIT in the fall! To find out more about Shannon and how Zinch works, check out her Zinch profile here!