Meet Some of Our Computer Science & Innovation Students

Core afforded me the special opportunity to travel as part of an educational trip to India. The experience expanded my view of the world in a literal and figurative way. The trip was  eye-opening and exposed me to a part of the world that I had never seen, as well as entire religions I knew very little about before the course. It was a life-changing experience and one of my favorite times in college.

I have completed internships at the Leahy Center and at a software security company, SOOS.io, in nearby Winooski. At SOOS, I had the opportunity to work on both front- and back-end software projects, which helped me get a feel for what I  enjoyed doing. While I definitely learned a lot from the experience, I also knew quite a bit going into it—like important day-to-day actions, as well as many advanced topics that had been touched on during my classes at Champlain. My internship experience was very helpful for job interviews and for helping me get my current post-graduate position.

Form friendships with your professors earlier. You'll see them a lot and it's great to be on a personal level with them, even if it's not always in an academic setting. I ended up forming some great connections with faculty later on in my college career, which provided me some fantastic opportunities. I wish I had done that earlier.

Core has strengthened my written and verbal communication skills, as well as my critical thinking skills. With Core, I was able to travel to Italy and experience a new culture while also learning about the impacts of colonialism on Mediterranean markets.

I love the local community and the scenery in Burlington. Being from upstate New York, Burlington reminds me of all the positives of my local community and surroundings while also having a nice city feel. I recommend taking advantage of all the nature during the warmer months by going on hikes, walking trails, or biking.

I didn't expect to feel as important as I do in the eyes of my faculty and community. I feel like my faculty really values what I bring to class. I'm not just a face in a sea of people.

Overall, I'd say the combination of class experience, work experience, and independent life has really helped me to be ready for what comes next, however that may look or wherever that may be. Watching upperclassmen move forward in their own careers encourages me for when it will be my turn to inspire those coming in after me. I feel a lot more confident knowing that people in the same place and from the same program have graduated to do great things and be successful in all walks of life.

It was fascinating to be in core classes where I was surrounded by so many people of different backgrounds and beliefs. The classes I took did not shy away from the more sensitive topics, but dove right in to examine them while at the same time making it clear that no matter what our views were, each of us was accepted within the class.

Do it. I applied to Champlain on a whim, never having heard of it before. I visited once at admitted student's day and now I'm going into my third year. I love the small size and the tight-knit community, the closeness of all the buildings and the friendliness of all the instructors. There's a good variety of people on campus and an equally good variety of programs for those who want to branch out. I'm really happy here, and I'm very blessed to have found a place like this.

The Core Curriculum opened my eyes to how intricately the world is connected. A small change in one community can have a big impact on another. It has made me more self-aware of how my actions can impact the people around me and the world as a whole.

Every programming project I've had since the beginning of my college experience has been rewarding. From the simple projects in Introduction to Programming to my Capstone, they have all been the perfect learning experiences and helped me steadily progress towards my career.

I was a programming intern, so I worked with a small team on a web-based project called Digital Signage, which was going to be used as a CMS billboard system. This gave me the opportunity to work on a software development team as well as gain valuable knowledge of web-based projects. This internship led to an opportunity to work at The Leahy Center every semester since, and to grow as a software engineer by working on projects in a professional environment.