While in high school my dad was the victim of a workplace injury. He was later declared permanently disabled.

Receiving the Kids’ Chance of Montana scholarship was a huge blessing. This scholarship allows me to focus on my schoolwork rather than financial worries, which has paved the way for success in my classes throughout my college career. My goal is to earn my Civil Engineering degree from Montana State University.

As a student at Montana State, I have participated in the Honors College, Math Club, the Women in Engineering Organization, Society of Women in Engineering, and held the position as Resident Advisor for the Women in Engineering LLC floor.

This year, I have been elected to be on the Women in Engineering Board, an officer for Society of Women in Engineering, and a TA for a Soil Science class. I have officially finished all of my lower level engineering/core courses, so this year I am very excited to start taking some upper division credits that will help me determine what specializations in civil engineering I want to pursue.

I am confident that when I graduate from Montana State’s engineering program, I will have learned how to take a holistic approach to solving problems by blending creative uses of math and science with the understanding of citizen’s needs, both locally and globally. As a civil engineer, I hope to better my community by enabling them to “go green” through designing and implementing environmentally friendly infrastructure — whether it be buildings, roads, or water treatment systems. I have not decided what type of civil engineering practices I want to specialize in but hope to find my passion in some of my upper division classes this year.

The best class experience I have had thus far in college was my statics class. It was the first class where I genuinely enjoyed learning the concepts and the professor, Dr. Plymesser, has become a great mentor. Statics is the physics of non-moving objects and structures and conducive to a civil engineers’ mindset. This class solidified my career choice!