What makes you a Difference Maker?
I never let my major stop me from learning everything I could and expanding my horizons at UM-Dearborn. I like to encourage everyone I meet to join something new, because our campus offers us so many opportunities. I do this by helping them learn of these opportunities even if it's not an organization I've been in. I love to hear what other organizations are working on to see if there is some way to help. Within my own groups, I do my best to give back to the community. Whether that be through volunteering at a mobile shelter, reaching out to our youth to teach them the amazing world of engineering, or collecting grocery bags to give them a new purpose. I make sure the difference I make encourages someone else to make their own difference.
Highlight your campus achievements:
While at UM-Dearborn I explored all that I could. My freshman year I participated with the Pep Band, which I then became the president of the next year. Within that year I also found an amazing group of girls with similar goals as me to succeed in a field that was predominantly male. I joined Alpha Omega Epsilon; a professional engineering and technical science sorority. Through that experience I was able to network with other engineers and engineering faculty to find my niche on campus. I was encouraged to be a better student, and this helped me raise my GPA. With my improved grades, I was able to join honor societies such as Upsilon Pi Epsilon (computing honor society) and Order of Omega (greek honor society). These organizations always encouraged me to follow my passions. Through the CECS department I was able to do just that by giving back to the community through K-12 outreach. This is something I will be continuing in my career to help give back to my community: teaching youth all the opportunities STEAM fields have to offer. Something I realized through this all is that, not only was I one of the only females in my classes, but also one of the only Latinas in the room. It made me have more gusto to be one of the first, but not the only. With help from amazing people I've met on campus, I helped become a founding member of the Hispanic Engineering Club, which I am happy to say is now an official Society for Hispanic Engineers Chapter.
Highlight your leadership experiences both on and off campus:
Alpha Omega Epsilon has helped me in so many ways in my journey to become an engineer. For that reason I did my best to help our chapter grow, first by becoming the vice president. As VP it was my responsibility to inform everyone who we were. But I saw a gap from recruitment to active membership. This lead me to my next position as membership educator, teaching our newly recruited members about our history, networking with alumni, and balancing school, work, and sorority. With my experiences as committee leads, and previous E-board positions, I accepted presidency. As president I made sure to set goals for our chapter to ensure we were on task, while exploring events that interested us all. Now as an alum to my chapter, I have begun the process to create an Alumni Interest Group. After experiencing all of the trials and triumphs, I want to help our future members so that there focus can be on the important tasks at hand. I also had the honor of being a founding member of Hispanic Engineering Club and their first secretary. I was able to use all of the skills I acquired to help build our organization. This included creating bylaws, recruiting new members, and submitting formal paperwork to become a Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers chapter. I wouldn’t have had the successes I did without my amazing teams and the willingness to listen.
What is your dream career and/or long term life goal?
My dream career would be as a software engineer and create standards and guidelines. I love working with database systems and how current processes affect the numbers. It may seem like ones and zeros to some, but to me it’s all about the continuous improvement aspect. Being able to identify problem areas allows people to get time back in their day and relieve the stress that an incomplete system brings. Although I want to pursue this throughout the work day, my passion will always be to help the community. I would like to help people help themselves by creating outreach programs. I want to create sustainable help so that the people I help can then spread it forward. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the amazing mentors I’ve had throughout my life, and I hope to be that for someone else one day.
What was your most defining moment at UM-Dearborn?
My most defining moment at UM-Dearborn was after my second year. I had ended the year on a low note and felt that mechanical engineering was not the major for me. It was the only goal I had set for my life since grade school. I had just joined the sorority and knew I had found my place with A.O.E. but didn’t know how I could stay while wanting a change. I clearly remember sitting with one of our recent alum and stating I wanted to quit. She reminded me that I loved my internship and that maybe I learned differently. Second, I needed to think about what I am truly passionate about, what I could do with that passion, and why that should motivate me. She also reminded me that college is an adventure and sometimes that adventure takes us down a different road that we never knew was there. From that day, I realized that it’s okay to switch plans, which I did and never looked back. The CECS department was still the place for me, but software engineering was the right major. I use this example when talking to the youth I volunteer with in my community. Without someone telling me what else was out there, I wouldn’t be the Difference Maker I am today.