Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Two First-Year Students Win Gift Certificates to University Book Store

 

Contact:
Dana Schmidt, CCEE communications specialist, (515) 294-3071, schmidtdiastate.edu

Ames, Iowa – Two first-year civil engineering students—Brian McWilliams and Chris Bro—recently won gift certificates to the University Book Store. Each winner was drawn randomly from a database of students who participated in a survey of incoming students in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. Each winner received a $100 gift certificate.

McWilliams, who’s originally from Manchester, Iowa, is majoring in civil engineering. He says he chose to major in civil engineering because he enjoys the process of designing and building big projects as well as communicating and working as a team with others to ensure a project’s successful completion.

Additionally, he says he came to Iowa State because he felt the opportunities the university offered were endless. “I chose Iowa State because of its reputation of engineering graduates who are successful after college. Twice a year Iowa State has the nation's biggest engineering career fairs where some of the largest engineering companies look for Iowa State students for summer jobs, internships,

co-ops and employment,” he says. “This would be a good reason why 96 percent of CCEE's graduates have a job within six months of graduation, which is a remarkable stat.”

With the end of his first semester at Iowa State nearly complete, McWilliams says he’s enjoyed his experience so far. “All the teachers at school have the mentality of wanting everyone to succeed,” he says. “There is supplemental instruction for the larger classes, tutoring for the more difficult courses, and I am yet to run into a teacher or professor who doesn't want you to take advantage of their office hours to explain or clarify any problems or questions you may have about their class.”

Bro, who’s from Montour, Iowa, and is majoring in civil engineering with an emphasis on transportation, chose to become a civil engineer to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. Bro says he decided to attend Iowa State because of its strong engineering programs, and so far he says he’s enjoyed meeting a lot of new people.

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