Stephanie Dee '96
Burke’s students got to hear words of wisdom from Stephanie Dee ’96 as part of Hour of Code in December 2015, and rightfully so — Stephanie currently works as a senior software engineer at Riot Games, where she oversees a Kickstarter-powered computer game called Stonehearth. She’s worked in the field since leaving Stanford with degrees in Symbolic Systems and Computer Science. Her love for computer games was first nurtured at Burke’s, after which she headed to University High School — and it was there she met her husband, Rodrigo Munoz. They live in Cupertino.
When you were a student at Burke's, what did you dream you'd be doing at this point in your life? Hilariously, making computer games! I got the idea from a multimedia class I took with Ms. Auberson when I was in the seventh grade. I put that dream aside in college, because I didn't think I could make a living at it. I'm very grateful my friends came along to help me prove myself wrong.
What is your favorite international city? I can't get enough of Rome. I remember the first time I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. Something about the shape of the outside made me expect it would be about three stories tall inside. It isn't. It's more like 40 stories. I think I started to cry, it was so impossibly magnificent.
Who was your favorite teacher at Burke's? How could I just pick one? I am forever grateful to Ms. Auberson for setting me down the path to computer science and software. Ms. Thomson made homeroom so warm and welcome, and Ms. Wiley made the library a refuge during freezing winter recesses. Ms. Tomei taught me that I could be good at math. Mr. Barnett taught me to love creative writing and literary analysis, and Mr. Johnston taught me how to read newspapers sardonically, how not to take myself so seriously, and how to apply what we learned in U.S. history to modern politics. It's a gift that keeps giving.
Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party and why? Every Disney heroine from Snow White to Judy Hopps, plus Lizzie Bennet, Marguerite Blakeney, Cordelia Vorkosigan, Jane Rochester, Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler, Melanie Wilkes, Hermione Granger, Leia Organa, and Natasha Romanov, to name a few. I'd put out a couple of table-conversation starters like "How should we fix this world" (for which I'm sure they would have answers that would be pragmatically useful to the world) and "How do you deal with uncertainty" (for which I'm sure they would have answers that would be pragmatically useful to me).
What advice would you give to a current Burke's student? Be mischievous. Be smart. Be strong. Be mysterious. Be beautiful, by a standard that you are proud of. Be loud, be elegant, be witty and brave and nurturing and dangerous and generous and fierce and loving. Fix in your mind the sort of heroine you wish you'd see in a movie made just for you, and figure out how you will become her, if she isn't already you. You might not have the perspective to see it until it's done, and you're looking back, but you really are coming of age in the middle of a technology-driven revolution, and the opportunities that are and that will be available to you are like nothing our ancestors could even imagine. It is not a question of whether great adventures will come to you, but how you will own them when they do.
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What is your favorite international city? I can't get enough of Rome. I remember the first time I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. Something about the shape of the outside made me expect it would be about three stories tall inside. It isn't. It's more like 40 stories. I think I started to cry, it was so impossibly magnificent.
Who was your favorite teacher at Burke's? How could I just pick one? I am forever grateful to Ms. Auberson for setting me down the path to computer science and software. Ms. Thomson made homeroom so warm and welcome, and Ms. Wiley made the library a refuge during freezing winter recesses. Ms. Tomei taught me that I could be good at math. Mr. Barnett taught me to love creative writing and literary analysis, and Mr. Johnston taught me how to read newspapers sardonically, how not to take myself so seriously, and how to apply what we learned in U.S. history to modern politics. It's a gift that keeps giving.
Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party and why? Every Disney heroine from Snow White to Judy Hopps, plus Lizzie Bennet, Marguerite Blakeney, Cordelia Vorkosigan, Jane Rochester, Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler, Melanie Wilkes, Hermione Granger, Leia Organa, and Natasha Romanov, to name a few. I'd put out a couple of table-conversation starters like "How should we fix this world" (for which I'm sure they would have answers that would be pragmatically useful to the world) and "How do you deal with uncertainty" (for which I'm sure they would have answers that would be pragmatically useful to me).
What advice would you give to a current Burke's student? Be mischievous. Be smart. Be strong. Be mysterious. Be beautiful, by a standard that you are proud of. Be loud, be elegant, be witty and brave and nurturing and dangerous and generous and fierce and loving. Fix in your mind the sort of heroine you wish you'd see in a movie made just for you, and figure out how you will become her, if she isn't already you. You might not have the perspective to see it until it's done, and you're looking back, but you really are coming of age in the middle of a technology-driven revolution, and the opportunities that are and that will be available to you are like nothing our ancestors could even imagine. It is not a question of whether great adventures will come to you, but how you will own them when they do.