Kimberly is the first in her family to go to college and now she is on her way to study computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, thanks to Wright College’s engineering pathway.
Always interested in physics, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study when she graduated from Prosser Career Academy. One of her teachers told her about the engineering pathway at Wright, so she attended an information session. Once she knew that the Star Scholarship would let her attend for free, she was ready to enroll.
“It’s definitely the best decision I’ve made,” she said.
Inspired by speakers in the field who came to her first semester engineering class, she knew she wanted a job she would be just as passionate about – and realized her love of physics could be easily translated to engineering.
While at Wright, Kimberly has been busy both on campus and off. In addition to her studies, she is the president of Wright’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers as well as a One Million Degrees scholar, volunteers at the Healthy Student Market, and landed a summer internship at Northwestern University through the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering. There, she performed research in synthetic chemistry and learned first-hand about lab safety, ethical research, and how to present research articles.
Her hard work continues to pay off as she is a semi-finalist for the prestigious nation-wide Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship, which pays up to $40,000 per year to support students as they pursue their bachelor’s degree.
Overall, she has made the most of her time at Wright College and says “you are part of a community here – the professors here know you, and you form bonds with other students. Everyone here really cares about helping students be successful.”