I always knew I wanted to be an engineer, even early on. As a kid, I had model train sets and I was utterly fascinated by trains. I dreamed of being a train engineer and riding across the land on a steam locomotive. Soon I was becoming more familiar with a different kind of engineering; I was fascinated not by how real trains worked, but how my model trains worked. I played with electronics kits and tried to understand the circuits in the instructional booklets, sometimes modifying them to see what would happen. Even at around seven, I played with electronics, and although I had no idea why anything worked, I loved it. I was on the path to becoming an engineer, but this time, an electrical engineer.

When I got older and learned more about my family, I realized that I wasn’t the first engineer in the family. My grandfather worked at Con Edison as an electrical engineer for a large portion of his life. When he passed away last year, he left behind some of his tools, including the slide rule pictured. His grandfather worked on the Brooklyn Bridge, and we have a copy of the blueprint buried somewhere in our basement. Even my mother did a form of engineering before she came to the US; she restored old post and beam buildings in Germany. Knowing this about my family, I’m even more excited to become an electrical engineer. Hopefully I can live up to my engineering ancestors.

-Dylan