CoSMO connects and creates safe space for new computer science students

Anusha Arora, who served as president of Northeastern’s Computer Science Mentoring Organization this past year, is passionate about welcoming computing students into their discipline and empowering them to learn about the variety of paths they can pursue.

The student group, also known as CoSMO, had an overwhelming number of mentees join this year, with around 75 students this past spring and more than 100 in the fall.

“As a first-year student, it could feel really intimidating since I hadn’t done anything related to computer science before college,” said Arora, now a rising fourth-year computer science and business major. “CoSMO was a very inviting space. I didn’t feel like I needed prior experience, and I could easily show up, learn, and meet other people. That’s the environment that we want to continue to create.”

For five years, CoSMO has aided computing students in their transition to Northeastern and to computing majors. Kene Muogbo, vice president this past spring and now a club advisor, emphasized his primary goal as a mentor is to relieve students of their worries about the future, especially about getting a co-op.

“I’ve heard a lot of mentees talk about how they felt more comfortable being at Northeastern [because of CoSMO],” said Muogbo, a rising fourth-year computer science major. “Everybody stresses that first semester of their first year because everything’s new, and having somebody that they can reach out to and talk to was the most alleviating thing.”

At the start of each semester, the CoSMO e-board pairs mentors with mentees. Mentors build relationships with their mentees, providing support and answering questions about the mentee’s major and field, from course advice to co-op applications.

“Trying to find that perfect [mentor] for somebody — it’s tenuous, but it’s really fun because I love to hear them come back and tell us, ‘Oh yeah, I love my mentor,’” Muogbo said. “It makes me feel like I can help them out.”

Rachel Li, a current mentor and the president of Northeastern University’s Women in Tech (NUWIT) this past spring, shares Arora and Muogbo’s enthusiasm and dedication to the program.

“As a freshman, I realized it’s important to have a mentor to guide you, especially since I was in data science. It was a really new major, so I didn’t know a lot of people that were also data science,” she said. “Now that I’m eligible to be a mentor, I want to be that for someone else who is finding their way.”

For the last year, CoSMO has worked to improve its collaborations with other computer science clubs, including the Game Development Club. Its biggest collaboration is a triad with Li’s NUWIT and Multi-Diverse Unified Leaders in the Technology Industry (MULTI). Through this partnership, CoSMO mentees can have mentors in NUWIT and MULTI, which facilitates more conversations for students from marginalized groups in tech.

“Because there’s a lack of representation of women in tech, not a lot of girls go into it because they don’t see themselves in the field, or they don’t see a role model that they can look up to,” Li said. “So being a mentor, I can show underclassmen that this is a path they can pursue and there are people here to help them on their journey.”

While mentorship is its main focus, CoSMO also hosts events to introduce students to necessary tech skills, other people in their major, and different career paths. For example, every semester, it offers workshops on GitHub and on behavioral and technical interviews.

“Showing people the different options in tech can give them an idea of what they want to do with their degree, or introduce something they’re interested in learning more about,” Arora said.

These workshops were what excited first-year mentee Hamsini Sivakumar the most. Since she joined the organization in the fall, it’s helped her learn new skills to transition into college.

“Last semester, I remember I went to this résumé workshop, and it was really helpful,” she said. “They taught us how to properly format our résumés and what things we needed to include, because it’s very different from a résumé we’d use in high school.”

CoSMO also recently launched its own podcast on Spotify called CoSMOcast, which aims to virtually connect and mentor students. The podcast will feature students, alumni, faculty, and tech professionals discussing their experiences working in computer science and providing advice to those entering the field. In August, CoSMO plans to release a new episode targeting incoming students.

Muogbo found that conducting interviews for this podcast inspired him and eased his post-grad concerns.

“I was able to hear [the guests’] stories, their problems that they faced when they were in my shoes, the problems that they face now, and how far they’ve gone,” Muogbo said. “I was impressed with how well that they were doing, and it gave me hope for whatever the future holds for me.”

Overall, the organization’s impact goes beyond its main mission.

“CoSMO is more than just receiving help and guidance on your career or what you should be doing,” Sivakumar said. “It’s also about building a relationship with your mentor, and that relationship is very nice because they’re more than just a mentor — they’re your friend.”

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