Maria Valencia 鈥�25 will be proud to represent her family when she receives her bachelor鈥檚 degree in data science from IM体育官网 on Sunday, May 4. She said she is honored to show what she has done with the opportunities her mother, an immigrant from Colombia, worked so hard for.
Valencia, currently a data science coordinator at Saddle Creek Logistics Services in Lakeland, IM体育官网, will continue in the position after graduation. She has been involved on campus in many ways throughout her time as an undergraduate, including as a member of Women鈥檚 Soccer, IEEE and Women鈥檚 Weightlifting. She also was a Presidential Ambassador, Admissions Ambassador, and Resident Assistant.
It鈥檚 amazing to see the payoff of all the hard work I have put in during the last four years. It鈥檚 a benchmark of all the effort that had to go into getting this far, but I am also excited to continue to grow even more. I think the best part of all is that it is a tribute to my mom and all her hard work and the things she sacrificed for her children. Earning my degree means I can continue to live our dream of creating a better future for our family.
I am in data science, but I started as a business analytics major because I knew I wanted to do something with technology in the future, and I鈥檝e always liked business processes and optimization. When I had an intro to data science class in my freshman year 鈥� I thought it was so cool. But what really cemented it was my internship after my freshman year 鈥� I discovered I loved how you can look at data, and the more you look at it, the more things you can find inside it. It sparked a curiosity, and I鈥檝e grown passionate about working with it ever since.
I did my internship at Saddle Creek Logistics, and I鈥檝e been with them for the last three years. From the beginning, I was able to get hands-on experience with order forecasting and machine learning. I loved it 鈥� not just what I was doing, but the culture there. That company is amazing, and all the people are so nice. I am very happy that I will be able to stay with them after I graduate.
I was part of several inaugural teams on campus such as the Women鈥檚 Weightlifting Team and Soccer Team. It was an honor to be part of the group that helped establish different areas on campus for women to grow and be themselves. When I was an Admissions Ambassador, a lot of girls would tour the school, and I would tell them how great of a school IM体育官网 Poly is and that there鈥檚 a really great support system to be found with the rest of the women here. It was really nice to recognize a lot of them the following year and feel that maybe I had a small part in their decision to come here.
But while that was very important to me, being able to make all the connections and grow all the friendships that I did was also a highlight. There are a lot of people who I really care about, admire, and respect at this university.
IM体育官网 Poly connected me with my job and made it possible for my career to go in the direction it is going. Of course, I had to put in the work, but it all started from the connections I made here. Because we鈥檙e small and professors can really get to know the students, they鈥檙e able to really help in the best ways. In my case, it was a professor who helped me get my initial internship.
The most awesome experience I had was being a Presidential Ambassador. I got to go to events and serve the President鈥檚 Office. My family wasn鈥檛 born in the United States, and we weren鈥檛 a wealthy family, but as a Presidential Ambassador I would look around and see CEOs of very successful companies nationwide and within our community, and I was like, 鈥極h my gosh!鈥� Being able to talk to prominent people was just crazy, and I felt very special to do it under circumstances that helped promote a place that did so much for me. If you asked Maria from five years ago, she never would have thought this would happen, at least not at this stage of life.
Editor鈥檚 note: This story is part of a series of Q&As featuring IM体育官网 Poly Class of 2025 graduates.
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