This year was probably the busiest I’ve ever been. I spent countless hours doing chemistry homework (that I really hated) and tried to push myself to earn amazing grades. Some of my classes were just too difficult to get the grades I was hoping for, but my new friends were there to support me. My roommate, Ashmitha, and I have been trying to cook together in the Terry Hall kitchens. To my surprise, I cannot cut an onion– I even got the knife taken away from me after getting a very minor cut. We also tried to explore more of Seattle; I say tried because we were not always successful. One of our non-successes was when we went to Snoqualmie but it was completely foggy so we couldn't see the falls from above– just white mist. We did have some successes, like visiting the waterfront and Pike Place. One day when we went down to the water, we decided to buy tickets for the wheel and that day had one of the most beautiful sunsets I’d ever seen. Mt. Rainier was glowing pink and the skyline was beautiful. These amazing moments helped me power through the nerves and fear of my freshman year, and I am beyond grateful that I had my friends to help me through.
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I came to UW not knowing if civil engineering was what I was looking for. My first quarter, I picked my classes to keep my STEM options open, but I also picked those classes so I wouldn’t have to keep thinking about the future. Unfortunately, second quarter registration came, and there I was again, clueless and looking for the easiest option. I decided to keep up with the general STEM classes; calculus, chem, and then my Honors class. A couple days after my registration, someone started talking about seminar classes to learn more about specific majors. Thankfully, there was room in the civil and environmental seminar class, so I registered and decided that was enough progress for now. Once I started the course, I was pleasantly surprised since I actually liked it. This class gave me a glimpse into the many opportunities I could have in civil engineering. I became interested in structural design and construction engineering instantly. Both of these areas would allow me to collaborate with teams to solve problems and create buildings (like actual buildings that start from the ground and go into the sky). I found something I was passionate about, but the next problem was whether I was talented and determined enough to do it. At the end of the quarter, we teamed up to 3D print a beam that would be graded on strength and aesthetic design. After looking through every truss idea we could find, we stopped on the Polynesian truss because it was the most visually interesting. Our team liked this idea, but felt like it could be more than a standard truss, so we began to see that it looked like a mountain. Then finally, we had our idea. We 3D printed a mountain beam with tree cut-outs, a river, and UW. We won for aesthetics (and it didn't break under the strength test). This victory gave me reassurance and the faith I needed to believe I could be a good engineer that could solve the difficult problems, collaborate efficiently, and serve communities.
After my first year of learning the standard intro STEM classes, I wanted to work more directly in my future field. I was able to be a summer intern at Spiniello Infrastructure West, a pipeline rehabilitation and construction company. I began to learn the absolute basics of construction, and there I realized how much I had to learn. Luckily, I had an amazing manager that gave me detailed explanations and helped me understand many parts of the job and how everyone works together. I spent most of my time working on time and material sheets to track the progress of the work for billing. This helped me understand the steps of the work, trade people needed, and types of work. One of my favorite parts was visiting the field and seeing the work being performed. It helped me when I read daily reports back in the office to have a better visual understanding and made me more comfortable on-site and working with new people everyday. After a whole year studying in a room, it was incredibly rewarding to see where that effort and dedication could take me.
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