Cassandra Alejandro

Cassandra's Story

I was introduced to the MESA program when I took the class offered by Peoria High School during my Sophomore year. I really enjoyed the projects we completed in the class and was an active participant in the MESA competitions my Sophomore, Junior and Senior years of high school.

During my Senior year, an ASU representative came to my MESA class to talk about their engineering program. At the time, I had no idea what I wanted to major in in college, but I did plan to attend a University like many of my peers in my Honors and MESA classes. I would be a first generation university student so everything I wanted to know about going to college I had to learn myself. From that single presentation I decided I wanted to become an engineer.

The MESA team at Peoria then offered to take students to ASU's Senior Engineering Discovery Day (not totally sure that is what it is called). We had the opportunity to learn about the different types of engineering and programs they offered. After that visit, I applied to ASU's civil engineering program, got in, and was able to earn my degree in 4 years. During my 4 years, I volunteered at every MESA day I was able to attend. I have been working at my civil engineering company, CVL Consultants since I graduated college and continue to volunteer with MESA whenever I can.