April 26, 2021

Lauren Blake can’t wait to become a Mizzou Engineer. The Rolla High School senior is ready to meet new people, take advantage of campus resources and learn more about computer science.

“I chose Mizzou because I wanted to stay in Missouri but go somewhere with a lot of people,” she said. “I know at Mizzou, there are people from different states and different countries, and everybody has different perspectives. I’m really excited to see how other people see the world.”

Blake visited Mizzou earlier this year and was impressed with the campus and its architecture, as well as the surrounding community.

“It was so pretty, I have to go there now,” she said. “And I saw how many resources there are, like the student center. That makes me feel really comfortable knowing there are resources to help me succeed.”

At Rolla High, Blake is involved in Future Business Leaders of America and the National Honor Society. This year, she and a group of friends also started a Computer Science Club to help her prepare for her major. So far, club members have been learning and practicing coding with Java and they plan to study other programming languages over the coming weeks.

As a computer science major, she’s interested in cybersecurity as well as software engineering.

“I’m on my computer all the time,” Blake said. “I like video editing, too, and when you’re video editing you’re typing in different formulas and codes.  So I wanted to see how it works. I’m really excited.”

Want to study computer science in a supportive community with lots of resources? Apply to Mizzou!