克里斯汀·帕尔默19岁 在击剑和计算机科学领域，这是一股不可阻挡的力量吗. 我们很自豪看到她的名字出现在 NCAA年度最佳女选手. 她成功的秘诀是什么? 我们最近有机会采访到她. 克里斯汀是麻省理工学院2023届毕业生，目前是谷歌的一名软件工程师. 除了她的成就, 这是她的感恩精神, 慷慨, 真诚的同志情谊使她成为我们所有学生的榜样. 如果你走在保利大街上, 一提到她的名字，许多教职员工都会微笑点头. 今天, 我和克里斯汀的谈话展示了一个聪明的人的视角, 这位年轻的领袖才刚刚开始在世界上留下她的印记.

Am和a Volel (AV) interviewed 克里斯汀·帕尔默19岁 (KP) on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 via Zoom.

在击剑

AV:你是什么时候开始对击剑感兴趣的? 

KP: 激励我的力量是我的妈妈. 我的教姐实际上是第一个参加击剑项目的, 后来我妈妈给我和我哥哥报名参加了这个项目. 我认为对很多人来说，培养对击剑的热情是很容易的, 因为这是一件有趣的事情. 当我开始的时候，我绝对没有打算成为一名学生运动员.

AV:有没有什么原因让你选择击剑而不是其他运动?

KP: 我觉得很有趣, 我的击剑俱乐部的人激励了我，也很关心我, 是什么让我更想留下来. 除了击剑，我还喜欢田径. 但我认为击剑为我提供了很多机会, 我认识了很多很酷的人. 这就是为什么我更倾向于那个方向.

“如果你在某件事上花了足够的时间，你就会成为专家. 这就是我擅长任何事情的哲学.”

AV:你是两次入选东北击剑联盟佩刀全明星一队, earning conference Fencer of the Year 和 2020 Rookie of the Year 和 was named your team’s Most Valuable Player the same year, 你能谈谈从初学者到MVP的演变吗? 

KP: 这是一个拥有一个支持你的网络，并牺牲很多时间的问题. When I was at Poly, I took the bus into Manhattan three times a week to practice fencing. 我要到晚上9点或10点才能到家. I would often have to do my homework on the subway home to make sure I could get it finished in time. 如果你在某件事上花了足够的时间，你就会成为专家. 这就是我擅长任何事情的哲学. 

I got better at fencing because I took the time to find people who were better than me. 我训练时并没有打算赢得每一场比赛, I knew when there was a large skill difference between me 和 the person I was fencing against. 这些比赛通常是我学到最多的, 之后我确保得到了很多建设性的反馈.

AV:我喜欢你不把对手仅仅看作竞争对手的想法, 或者和你对立的人, but to recognize their strengths too; to believe that in encountering an opponent, 你可以向他们学习. I think that is such an amazing mindset to have 和 one that has obviously lent itself to so much success on your part. 

在保利

AV:在保利的日子里，你印象最深的是什么? 保利学院为你在麻省理工学院的本科生涯/生活做了哪些准备?

KP: 保利有几件事很突出, but one that I’d like to highlight is that it did a great job of exposing me to different people 和 a variety of sports. PE always stood out in my middle 和 high school experience because I had never played sports like squash before coming to Poly. 我习惯了尝试新事物, 这为我后来上射箭之类的课程打开了大门, 手枪, 在麻省理工打高尔夫. 我在保利的时候, 我并不总是擅长我所尝试的运动, but these experiences helped me become more comfortable with trying new things 和 not putting pressure on myself to be the best at everything.

It was also great to get experience working with cool equipment like laser cutters 和 3D printers in Poly’s Maker Space. 我在麻省理工学院的研究中使用了这两种机器, 而我之前在保利的经历让我的过渡更加无缝. 总的来说，保利给了我一个非常全面的教育.

“总的来说, the teachers 和 the college [advisory] staff at Poly were very encouraging 和 pushed me to do big things.”

Mr. [查尔斯]波利扎诺P ' 18他在保利大学教计算机科学课程，是我最喜欢的老师之一. 我在高中上了两三年他的课, 他是我申请大学时最支持我的人之一. 他真的督促我在计算机科学方面做到最好, 总的来说, 因为他真的相信我. 整体, the teachers 和 the college [advisory] staff at Poly were very encouraging 和 pushed me to do big things.

AV: It’s so important to be able to try new things without the pressure of being perfect at it overnight. 

“…being a part of 会编程的女孩 gave me the confidence to know that I was going to do well in STEM 和 computer science, 特别是. 如果我被某件事卡住了，我真的不会担心. I just took those opportunities to learn 和 not be ashamed if I didn’t know something.”

KP: 我还想提一下 会编程的女孩的联合创始人之一 俱乐部. 我很高兴在我上大学之前有一个支持我的女性网络. 很多学生，尤其是麻省理工学院的学生，都有冒名顶替综合症. But being a part of 会编程的女孩 gave me the confidence to know that I was going to do well in STEM 和 computer science, 特别是. 如果我被某件事卡住了，我真的不会担心. I just took those opportunities to learn 和 not be ashamed if I didn’t know something.

AV:绝对. 能够看到一件事情从一个想法的小种子开始, 成为一个让人们进来并提供支持的空间是如此的强大. 

在保利，你觉得你的成长最受关注的领域是什么, 尤其是在STEM领域?

KP: 我的成长很大程度上得益于我所上的计算机科学课程. 我有同样的同学和老师三年，所以我们变得非常亲密. It was really nice being surrounded by friends, no one shamed you if you got an answer wrong. 我只是觉得自己被赋予了犯错的权力. Mr. 波利扎诺能够看到我们所有人，并知道我们能取得什么成就. He gave a lot of really good advice 和 pushed us in projects where he felt that we could be doing more. 

In 会编程的女孩, Ms. (琼)Belford similarly encouraged me 和 other girls in 俱乐部 to pursue their passions in computer science. 我所有的老师都非常支持我想做的事情. 我经常去院长办公室，征求他们对我的大学论文的意见, 和 they gave me lots of helpful tips to improve my writing 和 increase my chances of getting admitted to my dream schools. 总而言之，我在保利得到了很大的支持.

AV: Can you talk about the student-led spaces you were a part of at Poly 和 how this prepared you to be an active member 和 leader in your community at MIT? 

作为 会编程的女孩 和 Poly’s former fencing program taught me what it took to be a successful 和 inspirational leader. 在两个俱乐部, 有时候很难让员工有动力定期上班, 就像总决赛一样. 我知道人们很累，想要学习, so telling them to come to our club meetings 和 disregard the other things they had to deal with would be ineffective 和 insensitive. 而不是, 我亲自与人们接触, learning about their problems 和 working with them to come up with reasonable solutions so they would have more time to engage with 俱乐部s they were interested in. That’s one of the most important things I learned being a leader at Poly: how to connect with people 和 make spaces that people would enjoy coming back to.

导师与领导力 

AV: How important was your identity in seeking positions of student leadership in MIT 和/or at Poly? 

KP: My identity is always going to be a part of the equation, I can’t separate myself from it. However, I don’t think it was ever a driving force as to why I sought leadership positions. 我刚刚成为我个人感兴趣的活动的领导者. 我想如果我要花大量的时间在一个小组里, I should at least take on a position of leadership so that I could have a say in what its future would look like. 这对我来说一直是最重要的. 凭借我在保利大学和其他学校的经验, 我有足够的信心，我可以做好作为一个领导者. 我没有让任何事情阻止我.

AV: Who have been your mentors at Poly that demonstrated a path forward in STEM 和/or athletics? 任何你想提到的保利外的人? 

KP: 如果他们在读这个, 他们可能会厌倦看到自己的名字经常被提及, 但我不得不说. 波利扎诺和她的妻子. Belford. They inspired me to pursue my passion for computer science, 和 I deeply appreciate their support. 还有我以前的保利击剑教练， Mr. 泰勒(Runako) 和 Mr. 黄(豆豆).

在保利之外，我是 彼得·威斯布鲁克基金会. 彼得激励着我和我所有的队友. 他是第一批在击剑上出类拔萃的黑人之一, 六次参加奥运会, 13次获得美国全国冠军. 就其他导师而言, 俱乐部里的每个人, 就像我的教练和所有老击剑手一样, 你们一直在照顾我吗. 我的隔壁邻居也是麻省理工学院的校友, 所以我总是和他谈论我在那里的经历, 我有时在他的创业公司和他一起工作. He gave me a lot of really good advice, 和 also helped me figure out what to do with my career. 我有很多导师! 我一时想不出所有的名字. 不过，这些只是少数.

“我想尽我所能成为其他女孩的导师, 或者至少成为一名老师，鼓励女孩们说, “好吧, 也许我能在这里面有个未来.”

AV:我在想, 是什么让你对在计算机科学领域追求社会公正产生了兴趣.

KP: 我之所以能取得今天的成就，完全是因为那些支持我的人. My friends, family, 和 mentors have volunteered their time, energy, 和 money to help me succeed. I want to make sure that other people have a similar, positive experience, especially other girls. 我想尽可能成为其他女孩的良师益友, 或者至少成为一名老师，鼓励女孩们说, “好吧, 也许我能在这里面有个未来.”

在旅途中

问:你在谷歌工作，最近怎么样? 

KP: 现在一切都很顺利! 我有一些聪明而上进的同事, 有挑战性的项目需要解决, 我的工作也很灵活. 我也很高兴能再次回到纽约和家人在一起.

AV:当你回顾你在保利的时光时，你觉得有什么相似之处吗? 

KP: 我在日常工作中使用在Poly学到的一些编程语言, 我觉得这很酷. 尽管全职工作中有很多东西是你在学校学不到的, I think Poly 和 MIT gave me a strong foundation of knowledge that prepared me well for the transition. But I think a lot of my most applicable skills were definitely learned from prior internships, 因为它们更好地代表了我的日常工作.

AV:我听说你对旅游很感兴趣, 包括与麻省理工学院一起前往南非和博茨瓦纳, 在那里你教学生机器学习和人工智能. 你还辅修了中文? Where did your interest in learning about different cultures 和 eventually contributing to global education first begin? 

I became very passionate about traveling after being exposed to different languages 和 cultures at Poly. 在中学学习了拉丁语之后, 我去意大利旅行了, 在那里我们了解了很多十大网堵平台这个国家的历史. Taking M和arin 和 learning about Chinese culture also made me more interested in traveling. 虽然我在MIT的时候没有机会访问中国, 我打算很快就去，并且有很多机会使用我的中文技能. This past summer, I went on a trip around Southeast Asia with one of my friends from Poly. Although I didn’t speak the [local] languages, I was usually able to find locals who spoke Chinese. 这为我打开了很多扇门, 因为这样更容易找到方向, 获得要做的事情的建议, 尝试新的食物.

谢谢你的精彩对话，克里斯汀. 看到生活带你走了这么远真是太鼓舞人心了.

了解更多十大网堵平台克里斯汀 通过她的网站.