Larry McWilliam
Larry writes code for the National Security Agency, but he's into more than just coding. He found other passions like jazz and art at Guilford.
Larry McMillian ’23 lived a double life at Guilford College, a student who loved playing baseball until he found his interests beginning to expand.
Starting in his sophomore year, Larry alternated between two disparate worlds, at turns a Cyber and Network Security major at Guilford, and a hush-hush computer programming intern for the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Md.
He studied software and learned about memory safe languages, code-hardening defenses and operating system configurations at Guilford. Then he took those skills to the NSA, the branch of the Defense Department that operates the largest electronic surveillance capability in the world.
Guilford’s practical liberal arts education has served him well in his career. "There’s just something about (programming) I feel comfortable with,” says Larry, “but I was exposed to a lot of different courses and ideas at Guilford that have helped prepare me for life.”
Classes like Welding for Sculpture, Jazz and Digital Graphic Design. “I’m not just someone who works with computers,” says Larry. “I loved all my classes at Guilford. They’ve made me who I am today, opened me to other people and ideas.”
That includes a strong sense of social justice. “Guilford’s activated a sense of advocacy in me I didn’t know I have,” he says. “When I see something wrong, I say something's wrong. Whether it's me or any of my friends, we go after it. If something doesn't add up, it means the math is wrong and we need to fix it.”
Want to learn more about how a Guilford liberal arts education prepares you for a changing world? Contact Steve Mencarini.