The Engineering Experience

This story starts in 2018. At 13 years old, I watched the movie Interstellar for the first time. It was ambitious as it was whimsical, and I was swept up in all the possibilities the universe had to offer. And thus, my heart was set: I would be the person building the things that would help us explore each and every single one of those possibilities.  So naturally, when filling out my college application for Purdue, I happily clicked on the “Aerospace Engineering” button when asked which major I would be interested in. This is what I had wanted throughout my high school career! Of course, Purdue in West Lafayette doesn’t admit first-year students directly into their desired engineering majors. Students are admitted to first-year engineering and complete first-year requirements before going through the Transition to Major (T2M) process, through which students enroll in a specific engineering major. As I navigated my first few months at Purdue, I remained confident in my choice to pu...

Eleven months ago, I was getting ready for prom, graduating high school, and spending every day with my best friends. And then, in the blink of an eye, I was at Purdue– alone, hundreds of miles away from the people I had spent the last eighteen years with. Honestly, it was hard to look past the life that I had grown out of. But, as the leaves fell and the temperatures dropped, I began to bloom into a better version of myself. As I wrap up my second semester, here’s a look back at my freshman year at Purdue! Community: People at Purdue come from all walks of life.  I’ve been able to meet people who have lived in many different countries and those who have never left their hometown. I’ve always considered myself an introvert (the type of person to panic if they have to start a conversation). But, through Boiler Gold Rush , the B-involved fair, and my classes, I’ve found that I’ve begun to strike up conversations with whoever is around me. People here have so much to offer, whether in...