Page 19 - CALIFORNIA WOMAN - WINTER EDITION 2022

By Madelena Pawlek - California CEF loan recipient

In the spring of my senior year of high school, I made the decision to attend Harvey
Mudd college. I had always wanted to be an engineer since I was young and Harvey Mudd was
my dream school. It is a top engineering college with a fantastic hands-on engineering program
that actively takes steps to promote diversity. It was also the most expensive school in the
country, which made me concerned about how I could afford to attend.
Thanks to the CEF loan program and scholarship, I was able to attend and enjoy my
time at Harvey Mudd. The CEF loan program made college more affordable for my family and
me. I was able to take out a no interest loan instead of having to take out costly private or
government loans. I successfully completed the engineering curriculum and obtained my BS in
Engineering with a focus in Mechanical Engineering and a Humanities concentration in Art.
Knowing that Business and Professional Women believed in me increased my confidence during
my journey to become an engineer.
During my time at Harvey Mudd, I completed core classes in Math, Physics, Biology,
Chemistry and Engineering that form the foundation of a Harvey Mudd degree. I decided to fo-
cus on Mechanical Engineering due to my love of physical prototyping discovered in my Intro-
duction to Design Engineering Class. In that class, we were able to go to the machine shop to
make several different prototypes and create our own hammer. It is a classic symbol of the
Harvey Mudd engineering degree and I have it in my office today.
Harvey Mudd challenged me. In the words of my professors, Harvey Mudd was not trying
to teach me how to solve a specific problem but instead helped me develop the critical think-
ing and problem solving skills to solve any problem. Harvey Mudd is taking a strong stance to
increase diversity and women mentors. Many of my engineering professors and 50% of my grad-
uating class were women. I look forward to continuing the mentoring of other women engi-
neers I started at Harvey Mudd, while helping women look beyond traditional fields to pursue
their passions.