I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas with the 100 degree summer days and flat land for miles. I grew up with golf as the thing to do in my family every Sunday after mass. I started out as the little girl who would sit in the cart and then run all over the greens with my putter, but then I began to take golf seriously in high school when I fell in love with the intense competition and persistence I felt when I played. I was on my high school team at Ursuline Academy and missing about a dozen days a year due to golf actually made me a better student. I learned how to teach myself difficult material, how to communicate effectively with teachers, and how to stay on track in my classes. Golf has taught me self-discipline, hard work, and patience that have helped me in my every day life. I traveled and competed all during the summers in high school, so I was able to see so much of the country and experience all new places. I went to places in the East Coast, the Midwest, the South, and the Southwest. The only place I had yet to go was the West Coast, but golf took me there in college when I chose Santa Clara for the Jesuit atmosphere, the golf team, the engineering school, and a brand new experience.
Playing golf at Santa Clara
I went to an all girls’ high school that was very focused on technology and the departments of math and science. Computer science classes were required and every student had a laptop in class every day as each class used some sort of technological applications. My school found it very important that girls were exposed to the areas of math and science without feeling they were in the minority, as was usually the case in coed schools.
Two classes I took in high school helped me discover my unknown passions that led me to choose engineering as my major and career choice. I took physics junior year when everyone else had to, and I loved it; I enjoyed being challenged by my homework. As a result, I took AP physics my senior year because no other science option seemed to interest me as much as physics did. Taking this class, I considered physics as a potential major in college, but I was not sure how I could use my major in real life besides teaching or research. I knew I wanted to do something that would make an impact on somebody’s life, but I was not quite sure how I could make this impact. Second semester senior year I took an extra elective called Digital Applications. It was a new class that focused on learning about and incorporating new and upcoming technologies to help people’s needs around the world. We learned about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and watched a webinar series where people discussed the progress of each goal, and what future actions were going to be taken in order to reach the goals by 2015. We had a group project where we were to create an idea for a future technology to help solve one of the development goals in a part of the world. Thinking of technological impacts for the developing world ignited a passion in me that I had never felt before.
I still was not sure what I could do in college until my class took a field trip to SMU for the Hunt Engineering and Humanity Week. There was a section that focused on frugal technologies for the developing world, like water filters, housing, malaria nets, etc. I was fascinated by all of the water filtration technologies and the overwhelming need for clean drinking water. I went on a simulated “water walk” to imitate what many women do every day in order to provide water for their community. On the simulated walk, we held 5 gallon gas cans and walked with them through campus to the campus fountain; we then got in the fountain, filled the gas can and then walked all the way back with the water. Although the walk was not as long and the water was not as heavy as what happens in real life, the simulation opened my eyes to the daily life that many people in developing countries had to face. I knew after that field trip I wanted to use my math and science skills in the field of engineering so I could help people have better access to clean drinking water or other basic needs.
The display for World Vision’s Water Walk at SMU
When I entered Santa Clara, it was difficult for me to get involved in the many engineering clubs because I had golf practice every day. Golf was still a big part of my life and I was not going to let it go because it was one of the many reasons I chose to attend Santa Clara. I wanted to try to find a way to begin my journey in applying engineering philanthropically. I applied for the CLASP Alaska Summer Immersion for the summer after my sophomore year. After backpacking for a week outside Denali National Park, we flew to the rural village of Galena to help them transition their village into a more sustainable community as energy costs were getting too expensive. A month before we arrived in Galena, the village had the most devastating natural disaster since an earthquake in 1964: a flood wiped out over half of the village with flood levels reaching over 10 ft. Although many of the students’ jobs changed when they got there, mine did not; I still conducted energy audits in some of the village buildings in order to see where they could decrease their energy costs. Applying my knowledge of mechanical engineering to help a community in need made all of the late nights and hundreds of homework problems have a purpose again. I loved interacting with the community and working with them towards a common goal that would improve their lives.
The Santa Clara group in front of solar panels at the Denali Education Center
Now I am in my junior year at Santa Clara, and although I still am not sure what I want to do with my life, I know my passion for applying engineering to fulfill the basic needs of others.