Former Merrillville High School student, Aniya Edwards, struggled to decide what her future career would be. Many students are currently in the same position she was.
Edwards graduated MHS in 2019, and she is currently getting her masters in Civil Engineering and Purdue West Lafayette. Remembering what she went through in high school, Edwards asked if she could come back and give a presentation to students to expand their knowledge of engineering. Along with a verbal presentation, she mixed in a hand-on experience for the students to partake in.
“I knew I wanted to do an outreach of it.” Edwards said, “When I went to high school, I didn’t really know what engineering was. My junior year I think that was the first time they established a civil or engineering class here. Now that I know what it is I’m going to do, I’ll go back and let everybody know what it was.”
Getting the word out about engineering is important to her because she almost jumped into a different career path.
“You have certain people that are good at things you know, and they make it,” Edwards said, “You’re an A student, honor roll, and you’re taking all these AP classes, but you don’t really know what exactly you should choose.”
From the time after she graduated, engineering classes have been more accessible to students.
“You’ve got this new CTE facility, and there are some other things being constructed,” she said, “I’m more eager and excited to really get that exposure out there. I want people to see what it’s like out there before they actually step out there.”
In her presentation a point that she covered was about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. To summarize, she wants students to make sure all of their needs are met before they make big decisions, such as their career.
“It’s a universal concept, but a lot of people struggle with decision making, and usually, we like to trivialize it in high school,” she said, “But that problem exists outside. That problem exists when people are old and people don’t know what they’re trying to do or what they want to prioritize. I really wanted to focus on what helps with that, which is prioritizing what you need in the most basic form.”
Fully understanding the impact of your decisions is important to Edwards. She hopes to give inspiration to others who could be in a similar situation.
“Any help I can give when it comes to getting insight on what the next step is after high school I’m like, ‘I have to show them, you know, they need it,’ ” Edwards said. “If they want that advice, then I’ll for sure be there.”
