Carthage College Virtual Campus Experience

Carissa Kiehl ’25

Meet Carissa, a physics major and computer science minor.

Just one year into her Carthage education, Carissa has already conducted research aboard NASA’s zero gravity aircraft and traveled to Europe with the Carthage Wind Orchestra. Learn more about Carissa’s five favorite things about Carthage.

Video transcript

Hi, my name is Carissa Kiehl, and I'm an incoming sophomore at Carthage. I'm a Physics major and Computer Science minor. My first favorite thing about Carthage, and one of the main reasons why I came here is the Wisconsin Spacecraft Consortium. So basically NASA actually partners with Carthage to give us money to do physics research here. And I got involved with that just as a freshman. And it's really cool to get hands-on experience just right away my first year at Carthage. My second favorite thing about Carthage is the music program here. So I played Viola in the Carthage Philharmonic. And it's just a great way to do something other than academics all day. I was actually recently in Europe on one of our J-term trips with the orchestra. And that was really fun just to be, you know, with musical people and a whole different country. My third favorite thing about Carthage is the fact that this is a liberal arts school, meaning that you can take a lot of classes outside your major. And this was great for me coming in because I wasn't really set in stone about what I wanted to go into. So I was able to take classes in physics. I did some computer science classes, some business classes, and it was just a really great way to test out what I want to do. My fourth favorite thing about Carthage is a small class sizes. So I really enjoy this because it's allowed me to get closer with my fellow classmates and really build strong friendships between them. But also I can have strong relationships with my professors, and talk about material I might not be understanding, but also just talk to my professors about future career goals and what I want to do after college. My favorite thing about Carthage is definitely the view. So I've actually lived in Kenosha my whole life, but I've never been down by the lake, and just to wake up each morning and walk to classes with the lake right by your side. It's such an enjoyable and calming experience, and just have the beach right there too-- After a long stressful day of classes. You can just take a stroll with your friends and it's really a great time is really out of the finishing touch to my first year at Carthage. Those are my five favorite things about Carthage College.