EVEN Student Lilian Garcia Featured on #ILookLikeAnEngineer
Image courtesy of Daily Camera (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)
What does a CU engineer look like? Let us show you!
EVEN graduate Lilian Garcia, Class of 2017, was recently featured on an edition of the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign. As a Latina woman, Garcia admitted that growing up she didn't see many people that looked like her working in the careers she wanted to pursue. Instead of majoring in a predictable field, Garcia took on the challenge of undertaking a degree in engineering as an underrepresented minority. Garcia used to look around her classes and become discouraged when she couldn't find anyone like herself — a first-generation college student and Latina from Aurora.
"I think all those stereotypes motivated me to be the person I am today. I want to prove to others and myself that just because I don’t look like an engineer, I can still be one."
When she heard about CU's adoption of the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign and hashtag, she knew she wanted to be involved to show students and the world that engineers go beyond the stereotypical well-off, white man. She hopes, through the CU campaign, her story will resonate with an engineering student who needs a little support like she did.
"If they can learn now to power through and get what they want and deserve, they can get really far as an engineer and as a person," she said. "Your background doesn't dictate who you are. It doesn't dictate whether you were meant to be an engineer. It's what you do during your time at school and what you're willing to sacrifice that really dictates what you'll be later on."
Garcia graduated this past May and is now working with Black & Veatch as a Civil Environmental Engineer!
The College of Engineering and Applied Science, in collaboration with the , has joined the campaign to showcase the diverse range of people who pursue engineering. Read more about the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign . Show us what engineers look like by tagging your photo with and .
Read Garcia's full feature .
The Daily Camera wrote a piece featuring Garcia .