Bethlehem Teshome shines as an undergraduate teaching assistant

As a transfer student, Bethlehem Teshome has made the most of her undergraduate experience at Virginia Tech. Now in her final semester at Virginia Tech, she is taking all of her experiences, including a summer internship, to work as backend software developer for IBM.

Her presence in the Department of Computer Science has been felt by both faculty and students alike, as she has served as a undergraduate teaching assistant for the last two years for the CS:2114 course. In this role, she led labs and assisted students with projects, as well as wrote and revised project specs. 

"Bethlehem is dedicated to the student experience and always provides feedback on areas where students struggle," said Margaret Ellis, associate professor of practice for the Department of Computer Science. "She also went beyond expectations in fall 2020 to help redesign the course team project about storing and visualizing  COVID-19 case-fatality ratios data."

In her sophomore year, Teshome attended the blackcomputHER conference with support from the department. Department of Computer Science alumni advisory board member Jamika Burge is one of the organizers of the event.  

"blackcomputeHER.org is dedicated to supporting computing+tech education and workforce development for Black women and girls. We are thrilled that Bethlehem is part of our amazing community, and we celebrate her achievements," said Burge, head of AI design learning and research insights at Capital One.

Teshome also had a chance to be a part of the TechGirls two-week experience on Virginia Tech's campus in summer 2019, serving as an undergraduate teaching assistant. TechGirls is an international summer exchange program designed to empower and inspire young women from the United States, Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa to pursue careers in science and technology.

Congratulations Bethlehem!