Well, I remember standing on top of Ag Hall with my tour guide
and she pointed down to Engineering campus.
And I remember seeing this big stainless steel building with these huge columns
and this fountain in front and she said, "That's engineering."
And she wasn't an engineering major 
but I could just tell it was really exciting
and I knew that I wanted to go there.
I never set foot in the building itself
but that is where I knew I was going to be spending the next four years.
My freshman year here I took my math, my chemistry, and my calculus.
My first experience with calculus, it was quite interesting.
And you really dive in. I took a freshman design class right away.
And that was really exciting, really fun
and we created prototypes, we had a real client.
That is something that made me decide, yes, I'm in the right field.
Taking EPD 160 as a freshman, 
you have so much to talk about in interviews
and when you're interviewing for scholarships
and just talking to people in general, people in industry.
You can tell them, you know what, I built a prototype.
I know what it's like to go through the engineering design process.
I've been there.  Even as a freshman.
I declared my major as early as I could.
So the second semester of my freshman year I filled out all the paper work
and I found out that summer that I was officially into the Civil Engineering Department.
I decided to do an internship and after that internship 
I knew I wanted to go into construction.
There was no doubt in my mind.  
I loved wearing the hardhat, putting on my work boots, 
and being outside in the dirt all day.
One of the great student organizations for me in the College of Engineering
was the American Society of Civil Engineers.
It's a group of Civil Engineers with environmental construction management 
and all sorts of other backgrounds that come together and really network.
So we bring in people from industry and we all share the same classes.
And so it was a great way to meet people who had taken the same classes as you
or were years older and were able to give you advice on classes to take.
You just find people that, first of all, are engineers.
You automatically are drawn to people who share the same interests as you.
And then from there you go to the same club meetings,
and from there you hang out, you know outside of engineering 
and things just grow from there.
Copyright 2006 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Date last modified: Friday, 24-Feb-2006 11:19:00 CST
Date created: Friday, 24-Feb-2006 11:19:00 CST