A Chronological Story of An Aspring Engineer by Mia

A Chronological Story of An Aspring Engineer by Mia - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Ever since I was little, I was crafty. While I didn’t work with the typical materials engineers use, I was driven by the intellectual curiosity of how things work, so I would often tinker and make working crafts with anything I had lying around. With paper, straws, strings, and tape, my little self was able to construct wings, fishing rods, and all sorts of interesting creations based on my various interests (dragons, tools, birds, and many more). As I grew older, I developed a fascination for machinery and any electronic devices my eyes fell upon. I couldn’t help but wonder how they worked and just the thought of discovering what made them function filled my minds with fantasies of creating mechanical birds, working wings, and more. Since then, I would pounce on any opportunity to dissect any appliance, for example my piano, which suffered a smoothie spill. Everyone was convinced that it was a dead cause, but after hours of research and sheer determination I was able to fix it. Works as good as new. Funny thing is, I didn’t always like or even considered engineering.

As a child, I truly wanted to be a doctor. Once I grew up, I realized this wasn’t for me as it was a profession not for those who were faint at heart. During middle school, we were introduced to the pathway system we would have in high school, and as an 8th grader, I felt undecided. However, my parents knew me well, and they asked me to consider engineering, often saying “With engineering possibilities are endless, and you love possibilities”. Heeding their advice I decided to try despite my hesitation, I am so glad I did, I’ve truly enjoyed it. Over my high school years, I’ve learned to make circuits, constructed a robot, attempted 3D modeling, just to mention a few, all while learning various fields of engineering and applying what I learned to everyday life. The sense of satisfaction it brought me was exhilarating. Because of this newfound interest, I decided to pursue a field in engineering, then came the question, which type?

As I did research, I realized that my interests aligned with mechanical engineering, a versatile field that is applied in other fields of engineering because of the principles and concepts it covers. As someone who loves to explore different things and work with my hands, I truly liked it. I can certainly see myself putting the knowledge I learned into use at my workplace and in my passion for crafting and tinkering. While I’m still unsure of what position to pursue within the field, I know for certain that I want to be able to craft and bring my ideas to life, to satisfy my creative mind and help others.