What Purdue Means to Me - Guest Blogger Beth Holloway

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Kat Frangos

I remember the first time I saw the Purdue campus.  I was 17, and a junior in high school.  My mom and I were visiting to see if I wanted to apply the next year.  We got lost.  I tried to discretely pull out a map, embarrassed to be seen as a visitor.  A student saw me and my mom, and stopped to ask if we needed help finding where we were going.  We told her the building we were looking for, and she gave us great directions.  During the rest of our visit, I fell in love with the red brick buildings, the green spaces, the compactness of campus, and most of all, the friendliness of the people.  I knew then that Purdue was the place for me, the place where I could fit in and be successful.

I have a somewhat unique perspective of Purdue, in that I have experienced life at Purdue as a student, as an alumna coming back to visit campus, and now as an administrator.  My love for Purdue runs deep and I bleed Black and Gold. 

As a student, I feel Purdue prepared me well for a career in engineering.  Purdue provided opportunities to work with fellow students and faculty from all over the world – quite a new experience for a small town girl, and I learned to appreciate and value perspectives and cultures different from my own.  Purdue provided opportunities to find people who would become my lifelong friends.  I learned a lot about myself - that I was no longer the smartest person in the room, that it was possible to learn concepts that didn’t make sense right away, and that determination and persistence are just as important as talent. 

As an alumna, I learned how respected Purdue Engineering is around the world.  Anywhere I’ve traveled, my Purdue shirt has always been greeted with a “Go Boilers!” or more recently, “Boiler UP!”  I’ve enjoyed instant credibility when I’ve said I am a Purdue engineer.  And I’ve witnessed how much fun it is to visit campus after graduation, how being on campus still pulls at your heartstrings, even with the constant changes to buildings and roads that can make you momentarily disoriented.  I learned that it’s easy to stay involved with Purdue after graduation, and that alums and their stories are in demand by current students. 

As an administrator, I have the opportunity to be a part of providing opportunities that make an impact on students and may even change the course of students’ lives.  Working with students from all over the world is an energizing and amazing experience.  I am continually impressed by our students, their desire to change the world, to make it a better place, and to leave their mark. 

The Women in Engineering Program at Purdue has played a huge role in my life – and I would have never expected that as a 17 year old visiting campus for the first time.  I somewhat reluctantly, at the urging of my mother, signed up for the Women in Engineering Seminar – a one credit hour course for first year engineers.  I was absolutely inspired by the speakers – alums who came back to campus to share their stories.  It was through one of these alums (Donna VanKlompenburg, BSME ’82) that I found an internship at Cummins, Inc. that turned into a full-time job after graduation.   While at Cummins, I was a liaison to the Women in Engineering Program, and was invited to speak to the first year students in the Women in Engineering Seminar.  When the Director of the Women in Engineering program retired, I applied for the job.  Now, as Director, I can say that I have the best job in the world. 

Purdue is where I learned who I am, where I learned just how much I can do, where I met my husband, where I found my career.  And there’s no place I’d rather be than right here at Purdue.

Having fun with the 2010-2011 Purdue Society of Women Engineers 

officers after the annual banquet.