The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) competed at the ASCE Frontier Student Symposium Region Six in Stephenville, where UTRGV students competed against other universities from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Mexico.
ASCE placed 3rd in Surveying, 1st in Concrete Bowling and 3rd in the TimberStrong competition. In TimberStrong the team has to create a structure made out of wood.
According to the upcoming president for the ASCE Stephanie Moreno, Symposium is a great opportunity for civil engineering students to work on their technical skills and networking skills. Moreno said it was the first time the ASCE UTRGV students competed in TimberStrong.
“This year we took 3rd place in TimberStrong, which was our first time ever competing in it,” she said. “So, we were all really excited about that. It just goes to show how dedicated our students are here.”
Treasurer for the ASCE Daniela Alaniz said UTRGV is the only university from Symposium that competes in every competition.
“So, we are proud of that because we get to expand our knowledge in not only one [competition] but all of them,” Alaniz said.
She added networking and building friendships at Symposium helps them improve their work.
“You get to network all the way, our region goes to even Mexico to New Mexico and Oklahoma,” Alaniz said. “So, you get to not only Texas, but people internationally from Mexico, and then also from Oklahoma. You get to network with them and see how their state has these different codes, and how you get to learn from different states, and how they have different kinds of internships and how they do it. And so, you learn and you get experienced by learning from them.”
Moreno said being part of the ASCE helped her technical skills and grow as a person.
“I’ve learned that it is important to be a … solution finder because everybody can be a problem finder,” she said. “But, it’s just the students or the people that can find the solutions to the problem that really stands out. And then, just from a personal perspective, it’s really helped me come out of my shell because I was a freshman, like I mentioned, that didn’t know what I wanted to do, but it’s really helped me find a career that I’m passionate about.”
Students interested in joining ASCE reach out to Professor Gasser Ali at gasser.ali@utrgv.edu.
This is Celeste Cruz for Vaquero Radio.
