The garage floor was cold against my arms in the shade under my car as with a sharp clang the persistent, stripped oil pan drainage bolt finally let go. It had taken a creative use of a pipe wrench, a hammer, and two hours of sweat but my father and I finally finished up the oil change in just the same way we had solved many maintenance and repair problems: making do with the tools we have. My parents, both being educators, instilled in me the importance of making the most of every resource, opportunity, and skill you have. Working alongside my father I learned the importance of putting effort into what you already have to be able to invest in the future, while at the same time igniting a passion for mechanical engineering. I apply this resourceful mindset as the mechanical lead where it is my responsibility to lead the design and manufacture of our underwater ROV while also serving as a mentor for the younger members of the club. In a constant battle with limited budgets, time management, weight limits, electrical regulations, and the unforgiving physics of crucial buoyancy calculations I had to learn to find the potential in the overlooked. When we needed new camera mounts, I used leftover hose clamps as a quick, clean solution. When we lacked funds to purchase a whiteboard, I looked to the pile of cardboard scraps to create a custom board for brainstorming and ever-looming deadlines. Being a part of this club has taught me the importance of an iterative process of design, testing, and redesign, and given me the opportunity to pass along what I have learned to the younger members. My goal is to take the lessons I learned in robotics and scale them up to the multi-ton vehicles that power our daily lives. I aim to pursue a mechanical engineering degree and put it to use helping build a world where everything, from the cars we drive to work to the machines that build the roads we drive on, can be optimized to maximize every joule of energy. In addition, I plan on exploring alternative energy solutions such as nuclear power to help build a cleaner, environmentally aware future. In doing so I hope to lead the next generation of vehicle and equipment innovation to help preserve Earth’s limited resources.