As winter break approaches, some students are getting more than just time off—they’re getting their diplomas. No cap and gown can hide the smiles of students ready to take on the world post-college. I connected with a few graduating QUESTees about their college experience and how QUEST shaped their time here.

Aadria Bagchi, a Computer Science major in Cohort 37, reminisced about how QUEST taught her many real-world skills that she would have never learned in her core classes. “I feel like QUEST introduced me to some of my closest friends who I’ve made so many memories with throughout my time at UMD and in the program. I also was a part of QUEST Recruiting throughout my time in QUEST and feel like that made my public speaking skills get even better and made me a very confident speaker.” Something that challenged her throughout college was “trying to balance all [her] activities, clubs, personal life, and friends with school,” but she spoke about how joining QUEST introduced [her] to many talented students who were super involved as well and were going through similar challenges. “I felt I could relate to my peers and eventually, we learned to manage our time wisely and still be involved!” she shared. After graduation, Bagchi will be moving to Seattle to work as a Software Engineer at Microsoft!

Bagchi (left) during the Spring 2023 QUEST Conference

Reana Mahbub, a Computer Science major in Cohort 38, spoke about how awesome her experience with QUEST has been. “It gave me really good teamwork and project experience. It also gave me a great place to start building my network and get comfortable reaching out to alumni via the directory.” Something that challenged her in college finding time to do all the things she wanted to do. “There were a lot of times I wanted to change my major, or I wasn’t super sure what my career path would be, but I worked hard to figure it out, and now I’m super excited for my career and happy that I stuck it out!” she said. Post college, Mahbub will be traveling the world for eight months (how exciting!) and then will be moving to New York City to start a Product Management position at Capital One.

Mahbub (front left) at the Spring 2023 QUEST Formal

Daniel Choi, a Computer Science major in Cohort 37, noted how QUEST gave him new and exciting experiences in college. “QUEST gave me the opportunity to work in groups of students that I otherwise would have never met. The CS classes at UMD, primarily focus on individual work, with occasional group projects, so being in QUEST was a breath of fresh air, where I could meet other students outside of my major.” His favorite QUEST memory was winning Best Capstone for Cohort 37. “There was a lot of hard work and hours put into our project, so hearing that we had won was amazing.” Post college, Choi will be traveling for a few months, going to Korea and Japan, before working as a Software Engineer.

Choi during his capstone presentation

We would also like to congratulate the rest of our December grads this year:

• John Dutan
• Gabby Cramer
• Vincent Lan
• Razan Mikdashi
• Scott Flynn
• James Sawyerr
• Ayelette Halbfinger
• Raksha Bellary
• Nataraj Shivaprasad
• Anisha Kosuri
• Aaron Epstein

Best of luck to everyone! All of us in the QUEST community will miss you, but always remember the QUEST never ends!