E is for Engineering

Whoa, here comes Day 5 of the A to Z challenge already. They don't call it a challenge for nothin', people!  Is anyone else asking, "What was I thinking?"  Well, I knew from experience that I would be asking myself that question  sooner or later (and it has come sooner rather than later this time).

So, what did I do to help bolster my chances at success? I decided for my theme I'd borrow my father's words.

Like Judge Judy says, "They don't keep me here because I'm gorgeous. They keep me here because I'm smart!"

I'm sharing excerpts from an autobiographical journal that Daddy wrote for me back in 1999.  Educated at the University of Kansas in the late 1950s, he earned a BS in mechanical engineering. Much of his 39-year career, however, he served as a chemical engineer for the Department of the Army. 

From the legacy journal comes the next question I'm using as a prompt for the letter E.

Question: Did your high school  have college and career days? What field interested you most?  What did you want to become when you grew up?

No.  We didn't have college or career days, but we had special assembly periods during which we were entertained by groups from various colleges.  We weren't given much exposure to counselors who could discuss career choices.  Mostly, we followed hearsay information or role models.  I enjoyed mechanical drawing, architectural drawing, and math.  So I reasoned that architecture or engineering would be fulfilling.

Other possibilities that I considered were Optometry, Veterinary Medicine, and Mortuary Science.  In the end, architecture or engineering seemed to hold the most promise and interest.

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My dad's DNA with the good drawing genes and head for math have clearly been passed down to my youngest son. Here he is in second grade (four years ago) posing with my parents after the art and music show.  I couldn't find the picture I was really wanting to show in which he is sitting in my dad's lap at Thanksgiving. My dad said, "Why, come right on up here. We engineers have to stick together."   And my boy repeated, "Yeah! We en-zin-eers hafta 'tick togedder!