Donna Auguste

"I’d say definitely yes. There, there are quite a few experiences that I would say shaped me first and foremost. I would say my family because within my family, we had so many different experiences and so many opportunities for informal learning that just deposited all kinds of skills and knowledge within me that I didn’t even know I would need later on in life."

"And then, augmenting that, I would say school because I always loved school. For formal and informal learning, school has always been a space that shaped me with different experiences."

"And church and my spiritual life — my relationship with God has always been very important to me and that has not only shaped me to be able to respond to the situations I found myself in at different times, but also has led me and guided me in certain directions."

"I would say that, before I even knew what computer science or electrical engineering, what those terms even meant — long before that, one of the very earliest moments or period of time that got me excited about technology, were the Apollo space missions."

"Those were going on when I was, when I was 9, 10, 11 years old, and I was just riveted by the TV whenever they would show that control room with all those computers and all those people sitting there monitoring and managing these space missions. And Apollo 11 — that was the thing. The first lunar landing was just amazing. And that got me very excited about technology."

"I did more of the pulling apart than putting together but yes, and my family was very patient with me and, in fact, encouraged me to take the things apart and figure out what was in there, and experiment and explore."