THE 'E' IN STEM: Jennifer and Yasmine
We’re proud to be engineers. If you're a middle or high school student who still has no idea what to major in in college, allow us to introduce to you a career path that keeps your mind active, gives you opportunities to make a difference in the world, and encourages you to never stop improving. As we reflect back on our journeys, we realize that the efforts we made in our high school science and math classes truly helped us get this far. The structure of math curriculum going from Algebra to Geometry to Trigonometry to Calculus flows perfectly into the college engineering curriculum where you continue to become an excellent problem solver. As a professional engineer you continue to use these skills even further to tackle challenge after challenge in an industry that is world-impacting.
Not ready to set your heart on a single career path? Fear not! Within engineering, there are so many paths to choose from. For example, Jennifer majored in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, but works at an aerospace company. Her primary role at work is overseeing the build on the company's production floor and making improvements using the 3D CAD software (she prefers working on the computer over working with her hands - but the engineers who would rather build with their hands do so!) Yasmine also majored in Mechanical Engineering and now works in aerospace. Her role consists of analyzing hardware, creating new designs and improvements and presenting her engineering results to her leadership before big company decisions are made. At any point, we are able to ask our bosses about exploring different roles within our companies. In the engineering environment, you are respected and your skills are valued. Take a step back further and remember there are other engineering worlds to explore.
Nationally, the world of engineering is under-represented in the lives of students pre-college. Personally, we only knew about engineering because our parents majored in it or through internships We don't recall it ever being mentioned in our math classes. S.Y.STEM Coalition was founded to shed this light onto elementary through high school students in Tucson for all STEM fields. Follow us for opportunities to help clarify what you want to do in life. We want to see you achieve!
About the authors: Yasmine Straka is 24 years old, got her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at University of Arizona and now works at Raytheon. Jennifer David is 24 years old as well. She got her B.S. as a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and now works at B/E Aerospace!
