I chose to go to Illinois because of the diverse student population and the top-ranked program in Materials Science and Engineering. Once I was able to explore the campus, I immediately fell in love. I was amazed at the size of the campus, the immense number of RSOs, and even the variety of restaurants on campus.

My best experience at Illinois was participating in the Engineering Open House. I thought it brought me back to those days in high school when we had Science Fairs. It was really fun presenting a project based on your Major and explaining it to kids. It was really satisfying because some of the kids seemed inspired to purse careers based on Science as well!

My favorite part about being an engineering student is the ability to solve problems. engineering degrees require a lot of problem solving and this requires a lot of critical thinking. Once I graduate, I will be able to solve real-world problems because of the knowledge I gained from my engineering degree.

I joined EA because of my experience at Engineering Open House. When I heard about EA from a friend of mine, I realized that it could give me the same experience but for a long-term commitment. I wanted to be able to teach and inspire younger generations about STEM because it is a field I am passionate about..

My advice is that STEM is like running a marathon. You have to go through your STEM journey at your own pace because it is about the process of developing your abilities in that field. You shouldn't be discouraged if you start out slow as long as you don't lose interest.

I plan on going to graduate school for a Master's Degree in Materials Science and then go to Industry afterwards.