Student Spotlight: Anna Sopena
Anna is a Junior in the School of Industrial Engineering, and is treasurer for InnovateHer, a woman and minority focused hackathon organization here at Purdue.
When it came time to choose a school and degree path Anna, whose father is an engineer, knew that STEM was part of the plan, but not necessarily Industrial Engineering. "When I was a kid I was super into math, so I guess it was always known that whatever it was, it was going to be STEM."
As college approached Anna was leaning toward aerospace engineering, but her mother told her "I know you're going to end up switching to industrial." Anna was adamant that Aerospace was in the plans, but upon arriving at Purdue and going through the First Year Engineering (FYE) program Anna realized that "actually, maybe my mom was right." Part of the appeal of industrial engineering to Anna was the wide variety of potential career paths that Industrial engineering holds, as opposed to more specific majors.
During FYE Anna also realized that she is really into coding, which led to her involvement in InnovateHer. Anna's role as treasurer has her taking the lead when it comes to finance and securing sponsorship. The group held their first hackathon last year, and will return this February for another.
Anna also completed an internship at Dormakaba in Indianapolis after her sophomore year this past summer. During the internship Anna worked both in a factory and in an office, which helped her confirm that IE is for her. Ash she puts it, "you just cannot get bored!"
In addition to her duties with InnovateHer Anna also works part time at the front desk at Meredith South, which is an all-female community that several organizations such as Women in Engineering, Women in Technology, Women in Science and Women in Agriculture Living Learning Communities.
For fun Anna is really into Rubik's Cubes, and has solved one in under one minute! "They're a fun little thing. You can see me walking to class with the Rubik's Cube in my hands."
Anna is also a huge basketball fan, having played basketball for over 10 years, and was in attendance at the Mackey Arena watch party when the Men's team played for the national championship in the spring. Anna's reaction to the big game, aside from the disappointment of the loss, was "wow, my college is really going this... I feel like that's something I'm gonna be able to tell my kids, I love basketball and my team went to the national final."
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