Mentor Profile

My name is Jonathan Aponte and I am a mechanical engineering major with an international engineering minor. This will be my third year here at UCF. I am originally from Tampa, Florida and I graduated from Newsome High School in 2017. My favorite class so far has been statics, this is because I had a very entertaining professor named Dr. Zaurin. He is one of my favorite professors here and made the material much more fun to learn by incorporating many different jokes and strategies to make us pay attention. Another one of my favorite classes has been Differential Equations. While taking many math classes as a student it can be hard to understand why it is important and how it is used. This class has direct applications to real world problems and situations which makes it interesting. I had always thought about becoming a mechanical engineer ever since I was little, however when I first came to UCF I had all these options and did not really know what to do. I joined COMPASS because it gave me the option to explore many kinds of opportunities within the STEM field. I was able to understand all these different kinds of careers and options I had. Not only that, I met some great people through COMPASS that I am still friends with to this day. Outside of STEM, I enjoy hanging out with my friends, boxing, and other fun physical activities. Some good advice I would give is to stay focused on what matters to you and always keep learning.