Morgan King: Who Am I?

On the very southernmost tip of Texas, about 15 minutes from the Mexican-American border in a town that you’ve probably never heard of, there’s a house in between two fields down the street from a lake. It’s not safe to fish in, but people fish there all the time anyways. That’s where I grew up. It’s quiet and probably really (really) dangerous but it’s my home. 

Coming from a small town, there weren’t a whole lot of options for future careers. In fact, until I was 13, I could only name 3: teacher, doctor, or lawyer. Take your pick. As a girl with a fear of blood, criminals, and stupidity, none of these options really appealed to me. I lived knowing I was doomed to a life of hating whatever job I ended up in.

But then I turned 14, and upon entering high school I discovered a 4th career option: computer programming. It started as a class I could take to up my GPA, but before I knew it I was coding pandas into existence (seriously that was the first thing I did as a programmer) and flying through programs. I didn’t have any artistic ability, but suddenly I was an artist. I was no one special, but in front of the computer, I was a genius, an innovator, and I could see my life (the one I wanted) unfolding before my eyes.

As I continued through high school, I did find more career options available to me, but nothing was able to compete. For the first time, those seemingly far-fetched dreams I had for making a difference in the world seemed possible. Behind the screen is a world of possibilities I gain access to through code. The only limit is what I believe I can do.

I guess I would say my passion is code, but it’s so much more than that: it’s what code allows me to do and to be. My passion is doing what I can to make the world a better place.

I’ve told you all this, but you don’t actually know my name yet. So, hi. I’m Morgan. I’m a freshmen here at Trinity majoring in (can you guess?) computer science. I’m in the Women in Computing club; I’m an intern at Launch SA; and so far, I absolutely love Trinity and living in San Antonio.

Before college, I was absolutely crazy. I joined every club in high school I could-- NHS, Masterminds, UIL, tennis, Robotics, a church camp planning team -- and then started a couple more because I got bored -- Destination Imagination and a fun little group known as the Breakfast Club that never took off.

But who am I really? Well, I take any chance I can to get to a beach, I think I’m tall even though I’m really just not short, and I can’t sing. I’m definitely the kind of person who likes to keep busy, but also the kind who will shamelessly binge watch overly-dramatic shows on Netflix for hours at a time.

And that’s about it. Until next time!

-Morgan King