Meet a Tutor: Elysa Kohrs

Meet a Tutor: Elysa Kohrs

Elysa Kohrs

Computer Science and Molecular Biology student at MIT

Tell us a little about yourself…

I am from the lovely town of Half Moon Bay, California. I just finished my sophomore year at MIT, and although I enjoy college, I much prefer the fog of Half Moon Bay to winter in Boston. I’m studying Computer Science and Molecular Biology, but I have no idea what I want to do once I finish college. I love being active, and I especially love playing tennis, but I also enjoy skiing, biking, and swimming. And I like to bake and read.

When did you first start learning computer science?

The summer after fourth grade, I taught myself HTML. I made a website about tide pools because we had just studied them in school and gone on a field trip. In middle school I learned Scratch, and then my interest in programming was sparked again at the end of high school when I took AP Computer Science, which remains one of my all time favorite classes.

Do you have any favorite programs or projects that you’ve built?

I had a lot of fun with the projects in AP CompSci. We were assigned Hangman as the holidays were approaching, so I decided to make mine based on the movie Elf. The phrases were all quotes from the movie, and whenever someone made an incorrect guess, a new body part of Will Ferrell wearing an elf costume appeared on the screen. I continued with the Elf theme for the game Connect Four: when a player won, Buddy the Elf’s face appeared on the four winning discs.

How would you like to use computer science and programming in the future?

Hmm. My major combines both computer science and biology, so I’m interested in the intersection of programming with medicine. I’m also interested in computer science education because it’s a lot of fun to help kids grasp programming concepts and start coding.

Fun facts about you?

I play tennis for MIT, and our team just earned our highest ever ranking of 9 in the country!

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Mint chocolate chip!

Words of advice for the next generation of coders?

Learning to code will pay off in the end! Once you get the hang of it, it’s up to you what you can do with your skills. It’s exciting to use a basic knowledge of programming to create amazing/useful/fun games and programs.