我想成为一名土木工程师，因为我一直对道路、桥梁和建筑项目很着迷。It’s cool to be able to point to something like a bridge, freeway or skyscraper and say, “I helped design and build that.” And I’m confident there will be a lot of jobs in the field because much of our country’s infrastructure needs to be either repaired or rebuilt.
When I talk to friends who began their pre-engineering majors at large, four-year universities, I see that CLC has given me the same quality of education but with much smaller class sizes.我很高兴我没有被债务淹没。CLC is a great place to get your foundation for a four-year degree because it’s a quality education for an affordable price.
CLC’s newBaxter Innovation Labis a great addition to the collegeandwill give the college more visibility as the word spreads to area high schools and the larger community. You can apply in a positive, hands-on environment what you’ve learned in class. The lab has computer design stations, 3D printers, computerized numerical control (CNC) equipment, electric saws, hand saws and much more. In 2016, a group of us students built a drone. Another student used the CNC equipment to design his own circuit board for a video game.
I was fortunate to work part time in the lab, maintaining the 3D printer, teaching students to run the CNC machine and giving them design tips. It was a great way to meet others with common interests, build communication skills and have that credential on a resume.
Another great opportunity is my summer 2017 internship在弗农山的一家土木工程公司从事与交通相关的项目。我的职责包括实地研究和协助土地测量。在现实世界中学习是一件很棒的事情。这将为我转到UW-Platteville的高级工程课程提供一个优势。我是在2017年1月CLC举办的工程实习生招聘会上了解到这一点的。这是在同一个地方见到潜在雇主的好方法。这样的展会可以提升CLC的形象，因为我给其他州的工程师朋友发了邮件，他们中的一些人开车几个小时来参加。
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are exciting fields because they offer one of the most important ways that we improve our society.STEM creates infrastructure and products that improve people’s quality of life. More American men and women need to pursue STEM-related careers because we don’t want to fall behind other countries. We want to compete and, ultimately, bring progress to the human species.
除了工程学和数学，CLC的文科课程也很棒。我原以为社会学导论会很无聊，但教授把它讲得非常有趣。我们谈到了20年的怀旧周期——流行文化中有多少元素会在大约20年的浪潮中回归?其中一个例子就是现在风靡一时的Furby®玩具，它在90年代曾经很流行，当时我们都还是小孩子。