Hometown: Middletown, Calif.
Mechanical Engineering major (class of 2023)

What got you interested in engineering?

My interest in engineering started when I was looking at college major my sophomore year of high school. My favorite subject in school was always math so I wanted to do something along those lines. I chose engineering because it seemed the most fun to me because I am very into hands-on work and this is the closest career to being hands-on and active.

What impact do you hope to have through your engineering career?

Being that my internship is a defense company [Reynolds Systems, Inc.] I hope to find better ways to protect our soldiers and our country from enemies of our nation.

What does the CREATE program mean to you?

CREATE is not only a scholarship, to me it is a community. I am able to find other students that I may have never met with similar interests yet very different backgrounds and learn more from them than what I knew from my small town.

In what ways has your peer mentor helped you?

One way the peer mentor helped me a lot was last year he asked what I was planning for next school year and I had mentioned I would like a job that went during school so I could keep my internship over the summer and winter breaks. After we talked about this, he mentioned this to Dr. Vollstedt, and I had a meeting with her just weeks later. This would lead me to talking more about campus jobs with Dr. Vollstedt and leading me to apply for one of the EDL [Engineering Design Lab] jobs, which I was accepted to and will start this fall.

What advice would you give someone looking to follow in your footsteps?

The main thing I would say to anyone following my footsteps is to keep focus on your goals. Remember to always push yourself as hard as you can but keep your life on a straight path to whatever your goal may be, because that only makes your success feel better knowing that you not only succeeded but you did it helping yourself but you also probably pushed those around you as well