First Step

First Step aims to fight against the stigma that underclassmen (especially freshmen) are not suitable candidates to obtain an internship. Many underclassmen think that they are "not experienced" when in reality, they may have just as much experience or just as good of a resume as the upperclassmen. First Step believes that underclassmen are capable of achieving such positions and are just as ready for such learning and technical applications as upperclassmen are. It is the idea that underclassmen have time to accomplish their goals that "justifies" them to wait until they are juniors or seniors to get internships or experience that mentally blocks the freshmen from thinking that they can achieve greatness within their first year of college. Underclassmen have the capability of excelling in the industry as they stand. First Step hopes to inspire and lead them to all of the opportunities that are available through an engineering and computer science peer mentorship program. Here, members are grouped with peer mentors who have obtained research and/or internship experience in their early undergraduate semesters.