Did you ever hit that moment in high school when everyone expected you to know exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life? I sure did and I was only 15! At 15 I had no idea what I wanted to do. I only knew that I enjoyed and performed well in math and science class. But when you have only taken a few courses in high school, how are you supposed to know what you will like for a career?
In my previous blog you may have read how from an early age I loved math and science. I grew up in a supportive environment for STEM. When I was faced with the question of what I wanted to do for college I had a pretty good idea once I reflected back on what I truly enjoyed for my whole life. Airplanes.
When reflecting back on my education I also realized that a few events stuck out as things that I truly enjoyed in school. First of which was my middle school math team. Nerdy, I know, but I enjoyed waking up early two days a week to go learn math before school for an hour. Every year our team went to district, regional, and state MathCounts Competitions in Florida. State competitions also meant a day in an Orlando theme park with friends. Being on the math team made middle school a better experience. As soon as I started high school I joined the math team. I attended competitions both my freshman and sophomore year before funding was cut. Again, for some reason I enjoyed staying after school and giving up my Saturday in order to learn more about math.
Also in middle school, I participated in science fair. Both my seventh and eighth grade year I was able to attend the regional competition. Attending the regional competition meant I had the opportunity to explain my project to the judges, and miss a day of school. I always enjoyed sharing my research story. In the ninth grade I was sad to learn that science fair was no longer required.
Fortunately I had a wonderful science teacher who noticed I was a little bored in her class. Instead of criticizing me, she immediately offered to change my curriculum to something I had never had the chance to study before, space. To make it even better she asked if I would like to work on an independent study project for science fair. I was overjoyed to being able to do another science project! That year I won first place at the regional science fair and went to the state competition. Although I did not place at the state level I gained pride in my work and confidence in my scientific abilities. I can honestly say that my teacher’s support made me confident enough to choose engineering.
I attended a high school that offered many dual enroll (DE) and advanced placement (AP) options. I was able to complete many college credits while still in high school. The more classes I took, the more I gravitated toward math and science. My first love in school was math. I enjoyed doing my math homework every night, while sometimes dreading my other subjects. I started in algebra two in high school, since I was able to complete algebra and geometry while still in middle school. In the following three years of high school I was able to complete my math courses through calculus three. I even took AP statistics for fun. Again, I know I am nerdy.
When it got down to my junior year, while taking calculus one and two, I still had a limited idea of what I should do for college. My first love, math, and second love, science, put me almost automatically into the STEM field. I started doing some online searching and speaking with my teachers. I talked to my favorite math and science teachers and my mom about what type degree I needed to look into. So I started doing some more research about being a mathematician or engineer. Once I discovered how many disciplines were within engineering I was intrigued. When I started researching schools with engineering departments I landed on the University of Florida, and found out they had a mechanical engineering degree. I was hooked! I could finally combine my interest of math, science, tinkering, and making. It was the perfect fit. After some research and reflecting on what I most enjoyed, I was able to make the right decision to be an engineer.
-Emily Huber, CTO
