Hello! My name is Charlotte Hensel. I’m a senior in high school and in the second year of my dual enrollment at my local community college. I live at home with my parents, two younger sisters, and my dog. Two of my favorite extracurricular activities are volleyball and piano. I’ve taken volleyball since around 8th grade through our city’s rec league. I’ve taken piano with my teacher for 5 years, this is my first year practicing on my own. I love playing piano at my teacher’s recital for all her students and at my church.

I’ve been homeschooled my whole life. Being homeschooled with two younger sisters has helped me to become a self-sufficient learner and to help others if they need help with a problem. I’ve attended several homeschool co-ops. These co-ops are organizations where homeschool families gather and where, usually, the kids are taught by either other parents or tutors. Since starting high school, I’ve taken multiple classes consisting of 3-10 students at a co-op taught by tutors. Being taught outside of home let me be able to advance a bit in American Sign Language, which I wouldn’t have been able to get very far in if I learned from the computer. Thanks to learning ASL, I’ve been able to communicate, though a little roughly, with some Deaf customers at my work.

Another major part of my life is being a Christian. I’ve attended church since before I can remember. I love everyone at my church, we’re like a family. It was also through church that I first surrendered my life to Jesus Christ at about the age of 10. Then 3 years ago I was baptized. I’ve also been able to help interpret in ASL at church a couple times and have been able to play piano for worship, too.

I first started programming around 7th grade. I used a website called KhanAcademy to learn a variation of JavaScript. It helped me start learning what it’s like to program and how to solve problems. After that I learned some HTML and CSS from a class at home. Then I started coding classes at my local community college through my dual enrollment. I’ve taken SQL, HTML/CSS, Java, C#, and Python in my two years at the community college and I’m loving every second of it. After I graduate with my Associates of Science, I’ll move onto a university and get my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science to kickstart my career in computer programming and software development.

Throughout my academic career I’ve done well academically. After a couple semesters at the community college, I made it into the honor’s program. It’s the first honor’s program I’ve been a part of, and it’s been a fun challenge. Not only taking higher level courses but adapting projects so that they are at an honor’s level has been a good way to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone making me grow faster. Also, as part of the honor’s program, I started volunteering at the college. These experiences have helped me realize that I’m part of a larger community and learn how to help and communicate better with others. Two other things that have helped me connect to the community and communicate with people are my part time jobs. I work at a seasonal, family-owned ice cream parlor in my city and Hy-Vee. My jobs have given me valuable work and customer service experience and given me a chance to start saving for college.