How did I get here? How did I become the sewing, 3D printing, writing, hands-on mechanical engineering student I am today? Well I don’t think it was really a surprise to anyone except myself. It’s a hard journey to figure out what you want to do with your life and, honestly, everyone is still on it. People may seem like they know exactly what they want, but even those that have been in a job for 20 years are often figuring out where they would like their life to take them next.
Neither of my parents were in technical or scientific fields. My dad was a lawyer that wrote wills and did estate planning and my mom worked in social work and adult education. I grew up in Tampa, FL as an only child in a middle class home where I had extremely supportive parents and a dad that wanted to play with Hot Wheels.
I was always surrounded by a variety of toys, TV shows and activities. My parents did an amazing job exposing me to a wide variety of options. I took karate classes, tennis lessons, went to science camp, joined Girl Scouts and went on a variety of hiking based vacations. I loved K’NEX, Legos, Tinker Toys, magic, art, sewing and anything creative. I was obsessed with anything hands-on and interactive. I sewed all of my Halloween costumes with my mom which taught me the basics of sewing. When I had free time I couldn’t stop making things. I played Rollercoaster Tycoon and a Disney Imagineering rollercoaster builder on the computer to no end. I built a Rube Goldberg machine all over our living room. I watched Out of the Box, Zoom, Cyberchase and even Bill Nye before I really understood what he was talking about. I went so far as to start renting stacks of Bill Nye DVDs from the library so big that someone asked my mom if she was renting them for her class. I invented binge watching before Netflix was even an idea.
I did have a bit of an advantage with having some exposure to engineering growing up. My grandpa passed away before I was born, but was an engineer that got a chance to work on testing the Saturn V rocket. I heard stories about him and his engineering career ranging from Hoover vacuums to missiles. When my grandma remarried, she married another engineer, my grandpa Al. I grew up talking to him about his experiences in the industry. It was great having a family member with whom to talk about my high school experiences in Calculus and Science classes, since I had long since surpassed my parents’ memories of this material.
Although I was always good in math and science, I also loved reading and writing. I geeked out when meeting science celebrity Neil deGrasse Tyson in middle school at a local science museum and the then meeting NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd, outside the White House (I still have both of their autographs). When I hit high school I was torn between the fields of journalism and science. I was editor-in-chief of my high school paper and absolutely loved writing, a trait unusual among most engineers. However, in the back of my mind
I knew what I really wanted in a job was the ability to be creative and make new things. In journalism you were able to be creative in your writing, but you were often reporting on things that other people made happen, not making them happen yourself. I loved both, but I felt like I needed to pursue a course that allowed me to be the one making things happen. I didn’t ever imagine I would have the chance to do both of them in my career.
I loved the design process and being able to tinker with things until I got them just right. So, in the end, I decided to pursue engineering in college. I did not know what kind of engineering yet, but I figured engineering gave me the chance to keep my creative spirit alive. If nothing else, I could always enter the journalism world and report on science topics, but it would be a lot more difficult to go back and be an engineer with a journalism degree.
Throughout all of this I never felt at all discouraged to enter a STEM field because I was a woman. My parents and teachers never seemed surprised that this is what I was pursuing and always encouraged me. I did not encounter any obstacles or people telling me that it would be difficult. I honestly was not even completely aware of the issue of not having enough diversity in STEM until I got to college.
So how did I decide on Mechanical Engineering? How did summer internships influence where I wanted my path to go? What cool stuff have I done in college? How did cosplay influence my sewing skills? Check back soon for part 2 about my college experience!
Erin Winick
Founder, Sci Chic
Want to hear another story about women who entered the STEM fields? Check out Emily's story here!
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