Like many at this stage of life, my aspirations are on my mind a lot of the time. As a mechanical engineering student, graduating with my bachelor’s and master’s in May, the world feels like my oyster. I could have my pick of anything that I want to do; spanning from aerospace to renewable energy to automotive engineering to product design and working at a design firm. Despite the plethora of choices that I feel I have, I’ve found that I have limited myself to a few “specific” fields of work. I put specific in quotes because these fields are still very broad. I originally became an engineer because I wanted to leave a lasting impact on the world, and I want to dedicate myself to work that I enjoy, and that offers something in return to the world. As a soon-to-be new graduate from college, I’ve been applying to jobs at aerospace engineering and renewable energy companies. I have always wanted to work on something cutting-edge, so both of these seemed to be logical directions to go. I’ve always been fascinated by space exploration, so I hope that one day, I can be building the spacecraft or rockets that help send people and robots to other planets. Recently, I’ve become more invested in making a visible change, here, on planet Earth, so working at a company whose goals are to help eliminate the use of fossil fuels and prevent further pollution of our air and oceans, also aligns with my vision for the future.

In my first job, I would like to be able to use the skills which I’ve gained in college and work in a highly technical field. I love both the big picture and small picture, but I’ve been told by many colleagues and peers that if you work only on the big picture, you may never get the chance to work on the small stuff. Because of this, I would ideally begin working at an aerospace or renewable energy company as a mechanical design engineer working on materials, thermal, structural, or fluid analysis. As I move further along in my career, I’d like to transition out of that role and into more of a systems integration or managerial role on projects. I have enjoyed leading projects in school and would love to continue that later on in my career.

As important as a career is to my future, I also want to have the time to explore my other interests, some of which have fallen by the wayside amid the craziness of school. I’ve always enjoyed performing for people and would like to reignite that interest by pursuing local theater acting or perhaps focusing more on writing my own music. Over the last 4.5 years of school, I’ve rarely had the time to fully express myself creatively and I miss that.