Environmental engineering student Manwinder Uppal was eager
to get involved in the IDEA Center before she even arrived on campus. The
summer before her freshman year, she saw that IDEA hosted a summer engineering
program to orient new students to campus and share some tips to make the
coursework a bit easier.
“Neither of my parents and none of my family members had
gone to college so that was something that I needed,” Uppal said. “I got super
excited and thought ‘Yay, an intro to college life!’ As soon as I came to
campus I got lost for two hours, so it was good that we had an intro week.”
Since then, she’s participated in skills workshops run by
IDEA on things like the python programming language, and was part of the JUMP
mentoring program. She also branched out on campus, finding community through
the Raza Resource Centro and Women’s Center, and encourages other students to
do the same.
“I wish I knew more or went to the Women’s Center and Raza
Resource Centro a lot more, because I basically live there now,” she said.
“That whole area is really student oriented. When I did have way too much of an
overwhelming situation going on with school or something I could talk to one of
those advisors easily so it made it homey. That’s what solidified home away
from home for me.”
She’ll be working for a year while deciding how best to
accomplish her goal of making an impact through sustainable design.
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