With the end of the academic year approaching, it’s that time when we have to say goodbye to a few cohorts of wonderful seniors. I had the chance to speak to two graduating QUESTees about their favorite QUEST traditions and their plans for after graduation.
Mansi Reddy of Cohort 33 reflected on connecting with her BMGT/ENES190H team as well as interacting with other QUEST students. “My 190H team did a “QUESTgiving,” and we all ate Thanksgiving food and worked on our project. I also generally love attending the conferences to see everyone’s hard work come together and how passionate everyone is about their work.” Reddy also shared how being involved in QUEST Recruiting gave her the opportunity to work directly with the incoming cohorts and play a role in their introduction to QUEST. In addition to these experiences, she also has “felt so supported throughout [her] time in QUEST by faculty, students, and alumni which is a testament to how much everyone is invested in everyone else’s success.” She has “genuinely not been able to find a community similar to QUEST at UMD.” After graduating, Reddy plans to move to New York City and work for Amazon as a Software Development Engineer.
Reddy (right) and the 190H team that she mentored at the Fall 2021 poster session
Tania Arya, also of Cohort 33, spoke highly about some cool experiences she was able to have through QUEST. “My favorite memory from QUEST is the Spain study abroad trip in winter 2020! We got to visit Barcelona and Madrid with Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Suarez and learn about the different influences that played into the design of famous landmarks. It was really fun getting to travel with people from my cohort, and I really felt like I came out of it a changed person.” QUEST gave Arya the ability to work on her communication and teamwork skills. As a computer science major, she enjoyed being “surrounded by driven individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds and working with them both inside and outside of class.” After graduation, Arya will be moving to Seattle to work as a Software Engineer for Microsoft.
Mausam Patel, Tania Arya, Madison Spiotta, and Tori Miske presenting their poster from the Spain trip at the Smith Global Showcase in 2020
To all of our graduating seniors, we at QUESTPress wish you all the best in your endeavors! We can’t wait to see what you accomplish! A special shoutout to our wonderful (and graduating) QUESTPress co-leads, Tanu Kulkarni and Heather Bacon. You both have been so amazing, and we will all miss you both dearly!!
All of our seniors with their QUEST medals