Hi there,

My name is Tayana Albert. I am twenty-two years old and I was born in Brooklyn, New York but raised in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. I am Haitian and the oldest of five children to my parents. I have three sisters and one brother. So I have to set an example for my younger siblings. I am currently a senior at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I study computer science with the track of the language system and minoring in mathematics.

Throughout high school, I never thought I would end up going to college or being a computer scientist. While in high school I did not take school seriously but I did get good grades. I went to Pottstown Senior High School and Graduated with a GPA of 2.7. While I was in high school I loved to take math classes and was also taking nursing program classes. My parents wanted me to become a nurse which tend to be most Haitian parents dream for their child to be a nurse or doctor. So I followed their dreams through my eyes to make them happy and proud.

When I got accepted to IUP I was majoring in Respiratory Care, I thought it would be a breeze after my freshman year but it was not!  Once I failed a major class which is chemistry I knew this major would not be good for me. I thought chemistry would be as if it was in high school and it was a bit hard for me. Once a sophomore year came I changed my major to computer science. I did not know anything about coding or java. I just knew I wanted to work with computers after I graduated and loved math. When I told my parents that I changed my major form Respiratory Care or Computer Science they were very shocked at how big of a jump that was and kind of upset. They supported my dream anyway.  I told them I want to eventually work with a business or Google after I graduated.

When I sat in my first java class COSC 105 I had no clue what I had done. Thoughts were going through my head is this the right choice, am I going to end up changing my major again, is there tutoring for these classes and so on. I eventually got the hang of java scripting and I won’t say I am a pro at it but I am pretty decent. I was not aware that I had to take a minor in mathematics until my junior year of college. I was upset because I got it from a word of mouth from another student and not my advisor but I made it work because I still have a passion for math. I decided to join a few organizations on campus to keep me on track and steady, such as diversity student council and AMC. I eventually would like to join STEAM my last semester at IUP but I would have to juggle that with the other two organizations I am in and of course all my classes that I am going to take. I have faith in myself!

It is now my senior of college and I am more than excited to graduate college! It has been a very long 4.5 years, I still have no idea what I want to do when I graduate. I have been looking for jobs that have caught my interest such as becoming a Database Analyst, IT, or working with a small business creating small codes. But in all reality what I ever I end up doing after I graduate I will be very grateful!