{"id":5778,"date":"2023-11-29T07:30:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2025-08-18T11:47:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:47:21","slug":"student-spotlight-marisa-mendoza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2023\/11\/29\/student-spotlight-marisa-mendoza\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight: Marisa Mendoza"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"breadcrumbs\" typeof=\"BreadcrumbList\" vocab=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/\">\r\n\t<!-- Breadcrumb NavXT 7.2.0 -->\n<span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/\" class=\"main-home\" ><span property=\"name\">Voiland College<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"1\"><\/span><span property=\"itemListElement\" typeof=\"ListItem\"><a property=\"item\" typeof=\"WebPage\" title=\"Go to Voiland College Student Success.\" href=\"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\" class=\"home\" aria-current=\"page\"><span property=\"name\">Voiland College Student Success<\/span><\/a><meta property=\"position\" content=\"2\"><\/span><\/div><header class=\"wsu-article-header \">\r\n\t<h1 class=\"wsu-article-header__title\">\r\n\t\tStudent Spotlight: <br>Marisa Mendoza\t<\/h1>\r\n\t\t<\/header>\r\n\n\n\n<p>What makes Washington State University&#8217;s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture stand out from the crowd for those looking to get a degree?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We ask computer science major Marisa Mendoza for her thoughts on what makes WSU such a special place.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap wsu-spacing-after--xxmedium\">\r\n\t<div class=\"wsu-overlap__container\">\r\n\t\t\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wsu-image--style-framed\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"920\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-792x920.jpg\" alt=\"Marisa Mendoza.\" class=\"wp-image-5780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-792x920.jpg 792w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-396x460.jpg 396w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-768x893.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-990x1151.jpg 990w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189-1188x1381.jpg 1188w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-vcea\/uploads\/sites\/3466\/2023\/10\/Marisa-Mendoza-e1698361702189.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div class=\" wsu-overlap__column  wsu-overlap--surface-column wsu-overlap--overlap-xmedium\">\r\n    <div class=\"wsu-overlap__column-inner\">\r\n        \n\n<div style=\"height:70px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer wsu-hide--tablet\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container wsu-dropshadow--medium wsu-color-background--white wsu-spacing-top--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-right--xmedium wsu-spacing-padding-left--xmedium wsu-spacing-bottom--sxxsmall\" >\r\n    \n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Major:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/degrees.wsu.edu\/degree\/computer-science\/\">Computer Science<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expected Date of Graduation:<\/strong> May 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>High School:<\/strong> Cheney High School<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scholarships:<\/strong> Washington State Opportunity Scholar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\t<\/div> \r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Why would you recommend attending Washington State University? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The community, hands down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At WSU there is truly an indescribable sense of community, and I see it everywhere. In academics, there are so many different people and organizations ready to help students get the most out of their college experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In sports\/extracurriculars, there\u2019s always something going on around campus and it\u2019s always a great time getting to meet other students and celebrate Cougar victories!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see it off-campus too! Every time I\u2019ve traveled somewhere- if anyone I\u2019m with is wearing coug gear, we always get a \u201cGo Cougs!\u201d shout out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What can you recommend they do to succeed in your major or at WSU? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Computer science is hard. One of the biggest things that has helped me get through these times is seeking out community, whether it be friends in my classes, talking with a professor or mentor that you look up to, or just finding a space for you to de-stress and separate from all the schoolwork. I think just knowing that you\u2019re not going through it alone helps a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Are you involved with any activities on campus? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m involved in the <a href=\"https:\/\/tmp.wsu.edu\/\">Team Mentoring Program (TMP)<\/a>. I started as a mentee when I was a sophomore, and then became a mentor in my junior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This has been a great opportunity for me to grow my network and my soft skills. Getting to mentor students in my major has helped me reflect on what I\u2019ve learned and get to guide students. Being involved in TMP I also get to work with other mentors and together we plan events, collaborate on how to best help our mentees, and get to know one another on a different level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TMP provides us with a community of students in STEM majors where we can relate to one another and help each other. TMP also has many faculty that are ready to help both student mentees and mentors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">Have you participated in any internships related to your field of study? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve participated in two internships so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My first internship was with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myavista.com\/\">Avista<\/a> in the summer after my sophomore year. This was a great experience to learn about an industry I knew very little of and get my first look at what a job with my degree could be like. I worked on their Data Delivery team and got to shadow several team members and work on some great projects. I wound up learning a new coding language and used some new software that summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My second internship was the summer after my junior year at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.selkirkpharma.com\/\">Selkirk Pharma<\/a>. I was excited to learn about yet another industry that I did not know much about! This company is a startup, so interning here I got to see what goes into starting a manufacturing facility. I interned on the IT team and got to work with several different departments and learned about operational technology, corporate IT, and ladder logic code. Both of these internships were a great experience to learn about what kind of job opportunities I might have in my future, and that there are many different industries that I could work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading  wsu-font-size--large\">What do you want to do with your degree after you graduate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I plan to get a job in software engineering or data science. Both areas are of high interest to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marisa Mendoza is a computer science major graduating in May 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1120,"featured_media":5780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[570],"tags":[595],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[501,443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9100,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions\/9100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}