When I applied too college my senior year, only one school was on my list: Mines. I banked everything on getting into this school for a number of reasons. Born and raised in Colorado, I grew attached to the mountains and all that they had to offer, from snowboarding to backpacking, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave the sunshine state. Fortunately for me, one of the top engineering schools in the country was located an hour from my home town. I was drawn to engineering from a young age and grew a desire to make a difference in peoples lives after I watched my little sister struggle with a preventable, but not treatable, sensory and developmental disorder. Specifically, physics caught my eye as a field of study that would be broadly applicable in the modern world. My recent travel abroad has instilled a deep drive in me to spend time assisting people all over the world, and I hope to work with Engineers Without Borders or a similar organization after graduation. At this point, I’m a year from graduation, and incredibly excited to close the college chapter of my life. I feel that my time at Mines has prepared me to enter life with passion, purpose, and a skill set to make a difference in the world.