Joy is a white woman attending a midwestern university. Her major combines computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and her ideal career will include elements of biomedical engineering. Although she was homeschooled from kindergarten to high school, she was very involved in her local robotics team and made it to the world competition, experiences she links to her later success as an engineering student. She also became interested in prosthetic design from a friend, and through multiple internships has gotten hands-on experiences in a variety of design challenges:
One of the other students there has a family friend who mentioned that their parents had gotten in a car accident and were going through the process of getting prosthetics because they had to be amputated. And I was like, “Wow, that’s crazy.” But also, like, “Can you tell me a little bit more about the prosthetics that they’re getting?” …During my job shadow, he was able to fix something on his patients’ leg and put it back on their leg and they were able to walk out…. They said that they’re looking for interns, so I’m hoping that I will be able to work there this summer.
From Joy’s first interview
The image below is a journey map that Joy created summarizing some of the highs and lows from her second year as an engineering student.
Want to learn more about Joy’s journey? Check out her tag here (or by clicking the ‘Joy’ tag below) to see quotes from her interviews over the years.