ABOUT ME

What Makes Me Tick

I’m a 3rd year student at Georgia Tech studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Industrial Design. I grew up in a house of engineers with both my parents being engineers and this set me on the path I am on today. According to my parents I loved taking apart everything I could get my hands on when I was young, as do lots of little kids but what my parents said surprised them was I also put it back together. I also loved Lego's, something about completing a set and taking all the sets I had and turning them into something new like a 3 ft plane was incredibly satisfying.

This grew when I got to high school and got to experience CAD systems, CNC mills, and 3D printers. I grew up Wyoming so I was grateful to have access to these tools and I utilized them as much as I could. To get the most out of it I joined my schools, Cheyenne Central High, SkillsUSA Chapter. In this club I went to State competitions for CAD and National competitions for robotics, and chapter design. Aside from the fun of building robots and using 3D printers, this was my first experience of learning and building relationships with club and team members through high school.

These experiences transferred to college where I worked in groups on any number of projects from presentations to more robotics. I learned it’s not easy to work in a group of a bunch of leaders with no "followers." It certainly took some adjustment but from this I learned a lot about how I work in groups. I know how to delegate the right sections of a project based on people’s strengths and weaknesses. I am someone who will go the extra mile to make sure what we have is more than good enough but as good as possible. It was at the end of Georgia techs notorious ME 2110 class that I really saw my interest in design because I rebuilt my entire robot fresh to ensure it looked good for judges and would function to the best of its ability. It added a lot of last-minute late-night work for me but in the end it was worth it. I learned the two biggest constraints on any project is money and time and that the most effective team is one that utilizes everyone's strengths.

A little about me personally, I grew up in relatively small town Cheyenne, Wyoming which has given me an interesting perspective on the world around me. I was a competitive swimmer and soccer player before college. I still enjoy a couple matches and the rush of the water when I swim but only occasionally now that I am in college. I am a big outdoors person and love seeing the wilderness doing things from hiking and skiing to walking along a beach just watching the waves. It all sounds pretty cliché but growing up in empty Cheyenne Wyoming the outdoors was all I had and though I also enjoy the energy of a city, nothing beats the calm of the outdoors (as long as the weathers nice). I recently had the opportunity to study abroad in Ireland as well and it was a great experience. I go into more detail bellow as well as a few of my other travels.