Cows, engineering, and polymers. These three words written on an interviewer’s notecard keep myself centered around where I’ve been, where I am currently, and where I want to go in life. Growing up in a small coastal town in northern California, I had hardly ever heard of Chemical Engineering before my senior year of high school and never thought that I would be smart enough to study something so complex. The jury is still out on the latter, but at the end of my 4th year in the Chemical Engineering program, I am very excited about the opportunities ahead of me.
With a high school graduating class of approximately 100 students, very few people from my hometown were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study at universities. Surnames usually go back several generations and many local farms are run by grandchildren of the original landowners. For the early part of my life, this was what I knew and loved. I participated in my local 4-H club from the time I was knee-high to a grasshopper through my senior year of high school, raising sheep and dairy cattle with my older brother. However, as I got older, I noticed myself growing more distant with the thought of starting a career in agriculture. With an inkling to concepts in math and chemistry, I began exploring the world of engineering. Specifically, I became enthralled with materials engineering of sports apparel and footwear.
A lifelong athlete, I have always been questioning what materials made up my sneakers and jerseys for each sport I played. Progressing through high school, I learned about fundamental chemistry and physics principles but failed to make the connection from textbook to real-world. I am very much a hands-on learner, and usually, need to see a solution process or personally examine things to really grasp a concept. So I took matters into my own hands. Once an old pair of basketball or tennis had completely worn through, I would cut into the sole and question the various layers, stitching materials, or upper material configuration for hours on end. Without realizing it, I found a new passion in an engineering topic I previously didn’t know existed.
Towards the end of my senior year, my high school Algebra II teacher and former alumni of Oregon State University would often talk with me about the facets that the engineering program had to offer. During those talks, I learned about the Honors College and was captivated by the prospect of conducting research for an honors thesis on the topic of my choice. After several more talks with him, another vital mentor, and my parents, I ultimately decided that I would apply as a Chemical Engineering student to advance towards my goal of becoming what I set out to be the first time I cut open a pair of shoes.
As I progressed through my first term on campus, I had never felt more out of place in my life. I was a student who had always done well in my AP classes at my high school and ended up being the salutatorian of my graduating class, but once I immersed myself with fellow honors college students I was low man on the totem pole. I was at a loss and really struggled with adjusting to the curriculum that the Chemical Engineering program demanded. I continued to push myself to get better throughout my first year, and thanks to a practiced work ethic I eventually advanced to the level of my counterparts. After what seemed like a lifetime, I found like-minded peers and flourished into a student that rarely feels intimidated by others. In my third year, I was selected to participate as one of 19 students from my class in the MECOP internship program. This program allows me to conduct two 6-month paid engineering internships before I graduate. This, coupled with my ongoing undergraduate research experience has proved to me that I am not the “dumb farmer” that I originally thought I was.
To this day, close friends and peers are blown away that I grew up where I did. Sitting across a conference table in my last MECOP internship interview, one of the company reps raised both of his eyebrows and calmly asked, “so how is it that of all things you picked Chemical Engineering?” I reiterated concepts that mirror what I have outlined in this post and watched as the room fell silent. I advanced through the rest of the interview and felt very confident in all my responses thereafter. On my way out, I noticed that another representative seated next to me wrote down only three words: cows, engineering, and polymers. I chuckled and softly shook my head. I guess some things never change.
By Alec Westbrook: Student Ambassador, Honors College
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