Athena Hartigan, BS May 2025
Athena Hartigan, from Greenwich, C.T., arrived at Wake Forest after falling in love with its campus and climate.
It was an unexpected turn in her college search for a “cold school” where she could tap into her “cold gene” and continue her career in figure skating.
At Wake Forest, Hartigan reconnected with her interest in computer science, which began in a high school class. Hartigan said she is impressed by the important, behind-the-scenes work that fuels our everyday technology. But just as important, Hartigan said, is that a profession in computer science offers a quality work-life balance that allows her to pursue more.
“I used to joke and say, ‘Oh, I want to work at Google because they have a slide in their office,'” Hartigan said. “That’s like the vibe from tech companies that you get.”
For Hartigan, this has meant keeping up with her love of skating, even in Winston-Salem. After a competitive high school career and appearances in national contests, Hartigan said the rink became her place to decompress.
“I kinda feel the ice rink is my space to destress,” Hartigan said. “That’s kinda like my safe space in a way. It’s always been a part of my life, and I focus better, too.”
In the classroom, Wake Forest’s unique computer science program has provided Hartigan with another important community. She said the major’s small class sizes and fewer students are important for connecting with professors and finding friends. Those qualities have allowed her to take several classes, including CSC 201, CSC 301 and CSC 231, with impactful faculty like professor William Turkett.
“I feel like it’s a very tight-knit community,” Hartigan said, “especially because it’s a major that people do go in, but it’s not like a huge major here, so it’s just fewer people.”
Beyond the classroom, Turkett and fellow professors like Ron Doyle supported Hartigan as the president of Wake Forest’s Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) chapter, and a leader in Deacon Code. Those opportunities have afforded her important experience collaborating on a team and teaching new students to work on projects, including recreating the Deacon Dining website.
Hartigan says this hands-on experience and the curriculum’s visual learning have prepared her to take on her next big project. While she says she still has lots left to learn, classroom conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) have helped prepare Hartigan for working with new technologies and staying optimistic about their future.
Upon graduating, Hartigan plans to explore her opportunities to pursue a master’s program at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a position with Apple in Austin, Texas. She looks forward to developing new consumer technology that she says you can find at the front of an Apple storefront, and exploring Austin, where she is excited to continue skating.