Heron Wolf Civil & Infrastructure Scholarship

Since I committed to MSOE, many people have asked me why I wanted to study civil engineering. The answer can be divided into three parts. To begin with, this is where the Lord is calling me to be. After experiencing what a civil engineer does during my internship, I realized how much I love civil engineering. Finally, I am doing this to help my community and encourage other young girls to join the STEM field. Addressing my first point, this is where the Lord calls me to be. Since middle school, I have struggled to figure out where I could make the most significant impact on those around me by sharing the gospel. In my junior year, I still did not know what I wanted to do and started panicking until I turned and began to cast my worries onto Him and pray. Once I started to pray, I could quickly see my plans changing. I started taking more interest in mathematics, using Inventor and Civil3D. My interests were transforming into a path that would align well with a Civil Engineer. The Lord even helped me get my current job as a Civil Engineering Intern with the City of Watertown— an opportunity cemented in my mind that I wanted to be a civil engineer. Through this experience, The Lord showed me how He will always provide and lead me in the path He has planned for me. Next, I enjoy civil engineering. Civil engineers have many aspects, including designing roads and parks, doing construction site inspections to ensure they follow their permits, stormwater management, and much more. One of my favorite parts of my job is creating design sheets and plans. I especially enjoy seeing those plans become a reality after hard work and dedication. Another fun part is getting to meet new people every day. Whether they need help with something, want a map, or are simply eager young kids on a field trip, I enjoy getting to know them and their personalities as they visit the City Hall office. Civil Engineering is a job that I want to do because of the tasks I do, the people I meet, and the fact that every day, I walk into the office with exciting new work for me to do. Civil Engineering is something that, little by little, more people are starting to learn about. When I first mentioned to my peers that I would go into engineering, they automatically assumed electrical, mechanical, etcetera. Just like civil engineering is less prominent than other fields, a civil engineer's work is done behind the scenes. Many do not understand the amount of time, effort, and money that goes into it all—the hours spent creating, editing, and finalizing the plan and then getting it approved. The permit application, finding a contractor, getting the materials at a reasonable price, and working with Wisconsin DOT all happen behind the scenes. Still, most people only see some work leading to the final product. I enjoy doing this behind-the-scenes work. It is a way that I can help my community by fixing roads, helping apply for the permits or grants needed to fix the bridges, creating the maps for future projects, or even getting to design and help with the building process of parks. These are all ways that my future job can help whatever community I end up in later in life, and it is something that I cannot wait to achieve. As a female in STEM, there are many ways that I can change the world and my community. Specifically, as I pursue my education as a civil engineer, I look forward to making the environment healthier and traveling safer. As a Civil Engineer, I would work alongside environmental, transportation, structural, and municipal civil engineers. All work together to help ensure that waterways, such as rivers and lakes, remain as clean as possible with very few pollutants, such as phosphorus or even trash, that go to the water via runoff from lawns, roads, and drainage systems. Another way that I would help make the world a better place is through safer travel. As people tend to go faster and faster as they need to reach their destinations, travel becomes more dangerous. Living and working in Wisconsin once I graduate, the streets, especially during winter, are icy and slippery. By working to create faster working drainage and finding better ways to melt snow and gain traction (such as sand instead of salt), the roads are safer as they do not crack as much from the constant heat and reheat of the road. There is insufficient time or water for the ice to form on the road or create black ice. One last way that I hope to help the world become a better place is by simply pursuing my education. As a female in STEM, especially at an engineering school, females are only a tiny population in my classes. Women are still less than one-third of all STEM workers. As I pursue my education and become a woman in STEM, I can encourage other young girls to pursue their dreams. While I looked at becoming an engineer, I was determined to bring up the percentage of females in STEM, and as I continue my education, having other women in engineering support me and telling me to keep going is such an encouragement. I want to be one of those women encouraging young girls to pursue that degree. In conclusion, I want to become a civil engineer because the Lord calls me to do this, and I enjoy my work. I am also becoming an engineer to impact my future community and, more importantly, encourage other young ladies to join the STEM field.