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Simon Serna

ENC 1101-DM05

October 30, 2017

Final Draft

Building an Engineer

My undergraduate major was determined before I was even born. Engineering has been in my

family for three generations, and I intend on keeping the tradition. It became a tradition

because of the necessity of creative thinkers back when my grandfather was a young adult, if

you were not astute in Colombia, you would be stuck in the same place for the rest of your life.

Engineering helped my grandfather create his own factory and helped my father get a job.

Engineering sparked a passion that can only be expressed through how it begun.

Prior to my birth, my mom, Liliana, and my dad, Juan, lived and studied in Medellin,

Colombia. My fathers major was mechanical engineering and went on to be the primary

engineer for Toyota. My mom got her Associates degree in graphics and design and went to

work in my grandfathers steel mill. After my brother and I were born, they decided to move to

the United States in hopes of better opportunity and education for their children. My parents

wanted the best for us. Had we stayed in Colombia we would not have reached our full

potential. As soon as my parents arrived at the United States, both of them looked for any job

to make a living in the United States. My fathers prior knowledge of mechanical engineering

influenced how he shaped my perspective of the world, which made me highly interested in

math and science. My parents always tell my brother and me to study and do well with our

education and doors will the world will be ours. My dad regrets not coming to the United States
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earlier in his life because now he has to do grunt work because his masters degree did not

transfer over. I learned from his difficulties and took advantage of all opportunities.

After asking my mom about what took place in elementary and middle school I was told

school was very tough for me, I did not speak English and had no friends, transitioning from

Spanish to English was harder than I thought. When I look back, it makes perfect sense why

school was a burden. Every day was a struggle because I was placed in remedial English classes

all of my childhood with a group of kids that made me feel dumb and never got to fulfill my

potential. My mom would cheer me up and comfort me by helping me with my school work all

the way through middle school, she would always say little by little. So I would not stress out

about school, rather just complete what I had to do for the day without worrying about it on

the long run. The only place I felt comfortable in was math; compared to English math is

universal whether I am in Colombia or the United States I would get the same answer. Even

though the math was still tough for me, I enjoyed the environment established and the

confidence it gave me. I did not have to worry about syntax or learning proper format, I only

needed to get the right answer.

Afterschool, I would go home and play with my Legos, to get my mind of off school and enjoy

some of my days. LEGO would spark my creativity and I would go all out and make cars, houses,

planes, submarines. My contraptions would take hours to build and they would turn out to be

enormous. Sometime I would follow instructions from an old booklet of Lego but other times I

would improvise. My older brother Tomas, would sit down and play with me most days, we

would lose track of time and relished we have been playing for hours. LEGO was part of our

daily routine. For my birthday, I would get LEGO kits, it was the best present at the time. I loved
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to build these objects from scratch I felt involved and that I made a difference if it were not for

me these Legos would still be pieces rather than a meaningful object. Without knowing I was

strengthening my engineering skills for the future

Freshman and Sophomore year of high school was my self-discovery stage. I realized math

was my subject and I dominated because of the improvement in my grades compared to middle

school thus, I gained confidence and I felt proud of my accomplishments. I began to think

differently of school. School began to be a place of fun and education rather than struggle and

failure. I tackled challenging math and science course such as AP Physics C: Mechanics because

of the confidence I gained. I was determined to succeed in school and not repeat elementary

and middle school all over again. My mom could not help me with my homework anymore. I

had to go out of my way to get extra help with tutors and teachers. I was done doing the bare

minimum, I wanted to make high school a pleasant experience when I looked back at it. I saw

high school as a new phase of my life that I could redefine who I was to who I wanted to be.

Meanwhile, my brother went on to college and chose aeronautical engineering as his major.

Solidifying our tradition of engineers, he would speak highly of the potential engineers has and

that the field is primarily for critical thinkers and problem solvers. Over the course of summer, I

would visit Colombia, forgetting school but not my passion. My grandfather would talk to me

about his steel mill and teach me about the machine he invented and implemented in his

factory, the machine in which perforated, cut, and bend metal shaped my construct of who an

engineer is and what they do. I felt I needed to change my attitude and prepare myself to grow

up. In addition, for every birthday my uncle would take me to a military exhibition, which

displayed a variety of machines; from AC-130 to Black Hawks. These machines sparked a
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curiosity in me to know how they are able to fly and how their engines work. My grandfather

and uncle opened my mind to all the possibilities an engineer has, from working in an industry

to designed weapons.

By Sophomore year of high school, I subscribed to Popular Science. I would read the entire

magazine in less than a day. I wanted to know all the latest information on technological

development that moment. After reading the magazine I would always think of inventions I

could possibly make if I had a chance. I came up with a device for military personnel that could

translate that could decipher and translate a foreign language in combat environment. I also

decided that building detailed model airplanes, tanks, and helicopters was the way to go

because of the complexity of the model figures. The model kits reinforced my curiosity for

machines. I remember being very precise and methodical when building them, these kits

contained tiny parts as small as grain of rice to big components as long as a piece of paper.

These two activities that took up most of my spare taught me I needed precision and patience

for my work field, two key characteristics an engineer needs. My dad would often knock on my

door and tell me to take a break from all the building, Youre straining your eyes. I would get

happy when he would say those types of things because I did not acknowledge my dedication

towards building and understanding these machines.

I was most active my junior and senior year of high school. Mr. Thompkins was more than a

professor he became a counselor and friend. He came up with the idea of a Physics Club and

pushed me to create it. Mr. Thompkins was my professor for junior year, AP Physics 1, and

senior year, AP Physics C: Mechanics. He was a great professor that you could talk to as a

friend. He helped me out when I did not understand physics at all and when I took Physics C. I
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had no prior knowledge of calculus and he went out of his way to teach me the necessary

material. By taking college courses in high school I was able to see what I needed to do in my

life to succeed in as an engineer in college: countless hours of studying. I had no issue putting it

all into studying because engineering is what I love and I already did it as my hobby. I could not

wait to take engineering courses. In addition, before I fully committed myself to engineering I

did not want to lock out other interest I could possibly have. So Junior year, I took AP English

Composition to give English another shot. I had an amazing teacher my Sophomore and I

wanted to have him once again. However, Junior year arrived and Mr. Joseph left the school. I

ended up with Dr. Lewis which made me relive my middle school experience of remedial. Dr.

Lewis did not teach rather he made his students write and then he would correct the papers.

He would not even discuss the papers after correcting them we would just go on to another

piece of writing. Dr. Lewis did not try for his students he only wanted to see us struggle. I did

struggle. I learned from AP English Composition that literature and writing is not my strength

and that I should focus on math and science.

I began to push myself to uncharted limits, inside and outside of school. Afterschool I would

direct the physics club and plan events my club would do and help students who were

struggling with physics. Physics got me interested specifically in mechanical engineering and I

wanted everyone to do well in physics and follow their passion. I did not want people to dislike

physics because it was too hard. I wanted students to see the use of physics and how it is

applied in our daily lives. After Physics club my dad would pick me up and on the way home, we

would talk about engines and cars. He would always tell me a new component of the vehicle
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and what it did. These little moments with my father would go on to help me in college when

participating in the Society of Automotive Engineers.

College is mostly about self-discovery; individuals discover their passion and beliefs. Keeping

my familys traditions have never been as important as now. However, knowing that

mechanical engineering is the major for me. My attitude towards mechanical engineering will

be tested for the next couple of years. I will be dedicating myself to school for the major part of

my day to prevent the struggles my parents faced and I faced during middle school. I won't let it

be a cycle rather an exponential growth.