I have had a lot of dreams in my life. Many of them have been within my engineering profession, but it all started with sports. My mother always encouraged me to do the “pretty” things like baton and ballet and modeling. But I never seemed to fit into that little box – I struggled with being graceful and preferred my hair in a ponytail and out of my face. Luckily, I found a local sports league and found my “home”. I was only in first grade and wanted to play softball, but the league didn’t have softball for young girls at that time. So I played baseball with the boys. At school and home, I was super shy. Being on a boys’ team scared me at first, but when I got out on the field, I felt strong, confident, like I belonged. I felt at home on the field. Soon it didn’t bother me that I was a girl surrounded by boys. It was my place – I felt comfortable, and I excelled. I didn’t let a small technicality stop me from forging my way.
Fast forward to high school and I continued to excel in softball but also in the classroom. I found myself at a prep school where I had amazing coaches and STEM teachers. I found a love for math and science. And while it made me nervous to tackle the AP classes full of boys, I did it and succeeded. My teachers encouraged me to follow my love of math and science. At the time, I didn’t know much about engineering. My uncle was an engineer, but in my head, I associated it more with construction. But I trusted my instinct and the encouragement from my teachers.
I went to college at Tennessee Tech University and majored in civil engineering. Of course it was scary. As I looked around the classrooms, it was full of male students and mostly male professors and TA’s. However, my confidence grew as I began to excel and enjoy my classes. For anyone who has taken college engineering classes, you quickly learn that you need to create a team – study groups, team assignments, and folks who can help you mentally and emotionally get through each semester. I found my engineering family – usually it was study groups in fraternity houses, the library, computer lab, or even on a bench on campus. These people were like my teammates. We encouraged each other, cheered each other on, and lifted each other up when we didn’t meet expectations.
After a couple years at TTU, I decided to leave my summer job from high school and get experience in engineering. I had no idea what I was doing, but I started reaching out to local engineering firms to see if they would hire a summer intern. I finally found one and got my first summer internship after my sophomore year. It was in land development. I found it super interesting and educational, but I didn’t love it. The next summer, I secured an internship with RPM (now KCI) working under Bob Murphy (Past TSITE President, Past SDITE President, & Past International Director). I had found my place. I felt comfortable and confident, and I thoroughly enjoyed the traffic engineering projects. I even sat in a lawn chair and counted cars for many days during that first summer. I wanted to do well and make everyone proud. Luckily after I went back to school to finish my final year, I was offered a permanent position at RPM upon my graduation. Also, during my final year, I chartered the student chapter of ITE at TTU. That was an amazing experience. Once again, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I persevered and was encouraged by one of my transportation professors as well as some of the professionals I met during my internship. That ITE student chapter gave me something valuable to leave behind for students at TTU while also introducing me to other professionals that would be become my peers and future network.
The transition from student to professional was daunting. However, I had laid the groundwork based on relationships, hard work, persistence, and passion. I had proven to myself and to other professionals that I was determined to find success in transportation engineering. Since the time I became a professional, I have always taken advantage of every opportunity. And I have also tried to provide opportunities for others that come after me. I have always set goals for myself and my future. I have not always known exactly what the road looked like, but I faced challenges head on. If there was no road, I created it. And I hope that inspires others to build their own road should they need it. As an engineer our job is to make the world a better, easier place – in both our work, but also for our peers. Our peers are our teammates, our mentors are our coaches. Always search for a way to build your own road, not only for yourself but for those that come behind you.