Alumni interview

I chose to interview Kayla Flick, a current junior studying Chemical engineering. She was originally a biology major on the pre-med track and then decided that graduate school was not for her so she switched to engineering. She chose chemical engineering because there is a lot of opportunity with having an engineering degree. You can go to graduate school or get a good job in different industries with simply a bachelors degree.

She just graduated ENR last year and was very adamant about her love for the program. When asked about her time in ENR, she immediately said her favorite memory was the camping trip and hocking hills. She explained that it was a really helpful bonding experience that brought all of the ENR scholars together. Everyone was from a different part of the world which resulted in trying new things and diversifying your interests. It really opened up her mind to different parts of the world. She explained how upset she was that we never got to experience these trips to due COVID-19 because she loved them so much. She still communicates regularly with many of her fellow ENR students. I am hoping that next year, we will be able to experience these trips and form these unbreakable bonds with one another because having those relationships will provide a strong safety net. I want to be able to take the skills learned by working together, bonding, and collaborating into the workforce and help me become a better employee.

When asking her about her classes, different organizations, and advice in the professional world, she gave very insightful advice. The general classes are made to be extremely difficult but they set you up really well to understand future classes. So it is really important to understand the concepts so they help give you a boost in the future; however, after a little bit of time working, the jobs become less and less technical. Not only are knowing the fundamental concepts important, but also becoming involved in the community and building connections are very helpful for finding jobs and sharpening your skills. When going into the professional world, having some previous experience is extremely helpful. Kayla is currently on a co-op with a manufacturing firm and she believes that it is worthwhile co-oping, even if it pushes back your graduation, because until your are actually in the field, you have no idea which field you actually want to go into. Co-oping taught Kayla that as a women in engineering, you will encounter men who ignore you and do not work as hard as you but her advice was to be prepared to stand your ground, show how smart you are while being humble, and value other people’s opinions and advice. She said to be prepared for your opinion to be overwritten and/or invalidated but to not let that stop you. Work hard, do your projects to the best of your ability and in doing so, good mangers will see how qualified you are. Do not be afraid to make yourself looks good by showing how you did your job well and why it is beneficial. Because I want to experience working in the engineering field before actually becoming one, I will co-op and I will use the advice Kayla gave me to show that I am qualified to be an engineer. In doing so, it will, hopefully, provide a future job for me.