Going into college, I loved math and helping people, so I started in the math education program because that’s all I really knew about math. I really enjoyed it and wouldn’t trade that time for the world, but I realized I wouldn’t want to do that forever. I started thinking about switching majors during my second semester, but I had no idea want I wanted to do, so I just continued with the direction I had already started down.
In the meantime, I tried to talk to everyone I could about what I should do and everyone said to follow my dreams….really helpful for an indecisive college girl. I took almost every career, spiritual gifts, and personality test that was out there. I made so many pros and cons lists, it’s kind of embarrassing.
I stumbled upon this test, and it was the best one out there in my opinion! You got to choose your favorite and least favorite activity from a group of four pictures. There weren’t any questions you had to sit and think about. After the fifteen-question “test” was over, it described the six different personality types and told you where you ranked amongst them. At the bottom was a list of some different jobs and a description of each one.
It was through this test and lots of prayer that I realized that I wanted to switch my major to something that was more hands-on. My grandpa, dad, and uncle had been in the construction industry my whole life, and I was basically raised following one of them around any chance I could. More recently, though, my uncle had gotten into residential drafting. I spoke with him but wasn’t sure if drawing houses all day would be my type of job, but I loved the idea of it.
I went and toured a local civil engineering business in my hometown. Civil drafting was a whole new concept and it really intrigued me because it wasn’t just working on the same type of thing every day. Some days it would be piecing together old land surveys and other days it would be drawing setbacks for a new subdivision. Once she showed me the giant sheets of paper with plans for a new parking lot, I was sold on drafting!
I only knew one other student in the Drafting & Design program, so I immediately talked to him and he helped me find a new advisor. I am forever grateful for Steve Mahoney and his endless encouragement!
Now, I will tell you, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses after I switched majors. Keep in mind that I had never taken any sort of shop class before the Spring semester of 2020.
One of the required classes for an industrial technology major is welding. I will never forget the day I was crying in the library because I was the only girl in the class and so incredibly intimidated by all the upperclassmen boys. I wanted to drop out so bad! I looked at transferring to a nearby community college. I was literally trying to do anything I could to get out of this dang class!
Steve saw me crying and told me that he was in the same class, he just took it at a different time. He reassured me that he didn’t know anything about welding either, and we began working on the homework assignments together so that we could both understand it. The best thing that happened for me was that this was the semester that the world shut down, so I had to finish the class at home. I was able to work at my own speed with different equipment and I actually learned to really enjoy welding!
I continued to take industrial tech classes because again, I had no idea what I would switch to if I did. Over the next few semesters, I was introduced to the laser engraver, plasma cutter, and CNC router for various classes. I found that there were so many possibilities with these three machines. I began writing a list of all of my ideas and quickly came up with an entire page of projects!
My favorite machine was the laser, though. It quickly became my new favorite hobby and I was known around the building as the “laser queen.” I started dreaming big about what I could do with a laser engraver of my own.
After tossing around the idea for a while, I finally decided to buy my own, and I am so happy I did!
Life throws us so many curveballs and it’s crazy that the world wants us to know what we want to do with our life by the time we graduate high school. I have no idea what my future looks like, but I am so happy I took the risk and tried something new. I never would have found my passion for lasering, if it weren’t for stepping out of my comfort zone and going across campus to the industrial tech building.
