Meet Mackenzie H.
Mckenzie is a high school senior from Hazel Green, Alabama.
Her main interest is computer science, but she also enjoys biology and engineering. Mackenzie is involved with multiple afterschool organizations like Kode with Klossy and Girls Who Code, and will be spending time working with those programs as an instructor this summer.
Mackenzie is very excited to be a member of the first Flight Crew. She tells us how she first got excited about STEM.
“The catalyst of my interest in STEM would have been in 2019 when I attended Kode with Klossy. We were building websites and that's really where my interest sparked. That evolved into engineering and biology; I attended a summer science program last year and did work in biochemistry, which catalyzed my interest in biomedical engineering. I'm hoping to pursue that in university as well.”
Mackenzie recalls how important mentors have been in her STEM journey.
“My first experience with mentorship started at Kode with Klossy in 2019. I had the most incredible instructors that I still talk to this day. They have made such a huge impact on my life. They helped me with my college applications and have supported me for four years. And I’m going to be teaching this year and will be in the same position they were four years ago. I'll be doing that now. So, that's really exciting.
I would 100 percent not be the same person if it wasn't for my mentor supporting me. It has made a significant difference in my life, especially academically. I'm super grateful for all my mentors and peers that have changed my life over the past four years.”
Mackenzie has given back to the community, based on solving problems she experienced when trying to access STEM opportunities.
“One of the biggest projects I worked on was with SociGo, to compile afterschool programs that are free for low income students or students in rural communities. I submitted that work to the Congressional App Challenge and I won for my district.
The idea came from my own experiences - not being able to find STEM opportunities living on a farm in the middle of nowhere. All of these programs are typically hosted in big cities and that was just not accessible. Also, the price tag on some of the programs is not accessible to the average person. So, I wanted to create something that compiled and filtered programs in a way that was accessible. It also highlights programs all over the country and not just in one city. The goal was to create something similar to what I wish I had when I started looking for programs. It's made a huge difference even for me being able to research new afterschool programs, and I hope that it makes a huge difference for everyone who's had the chance to use it.”
Living on a farm, Mackenzie has found a way to tie her love of STEM into her everyday rural life.
“I actually wrote a research paper about agriculture in Nigeria because I'm half black and a quarter Nigerian, and that's a huge interest for me. My main interest in biochemistry is agriculture. At my summer science program, I built a computational fungal inhibitor. It was really fun to intersect those two aspects of my life because it's not something that you always get to do within technology. It was a great opportunity and it was definitely very valuable.”
Mackenzie gives advice to other young people potentially interested in STEM.
“I would say just try things. I've done many things where I have not been the most educated person in the room about that particular facet of a topic and I just do it anyway. I do it for the learning experience. When I started coding, I had no experience in coding. When I started at the summer science program, I did not have specific experience in biochemistry and agriculture, so I just tried it out and it was a fantastic experience and I learned so much. Trying things and putting yourself out there is super important.
Also find your community. There are so many fantastic communities and I've had the privilege to be a part of so many amazing teams and work with an incredible amount of people. There are so many communities, just explore as much as possible, and don't worry about knowing everything, you can learn at the very least.”