As a first-generation student, Mayca Alessandra Saavedra found it difficult to navigate the college application process, but an email invitation from the Society of Women Engineers chapter at Colorado State University helped clarify a path for her.

Saavedra grew up in Lima, Peru, and was finishing high school in Highlands Ranch when she was invited by email to visit campus through the Stick with SWE outreach program during her senior year. Because she had no personal transportation at the time, she wound up getting up early and taking a string of buses from Denver to Fort Collins for the event, which pairs high schoolers with CSU student mentors for a glimpse into the engineering program. She said the SWE program, scholarship opportunities and the “home away from home” feeling on campus she experienced made it clear CSU was a good fit for her.

“I think my name and my journey getting to the event spread around the college, and I was approached by SWE leaders as well as engineering staff and faculty afterwards,” she said. “They expressed care, empathy and kindness to me, which made me feel at home and not like another number in the recruitment process.”

Saavedra majored in environmental engineering at CSU because of a long-standing interest in water quality dating to her youth in Peru.

“Peru is one out of three Latin American countries that suffer the most from a lack of clean water. With water scarcity being part of the 14 Grand Challenges of Engineering, I knew this would be a field I can tackle and contribute to find a solution,” she said.

In addition to her schoolwork, Saavedra was also deeply involved with many organizations across campus. She served as the lead student ambassador coordinator at the Powerhouse Energy Institute and participated in Greek life on campus. She also briefly studied abroad in Uzbekistan and held a leadership role in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Finally, she also joined the Society of Women Engineers – serving as a peer mentor and giving back to the group that helped get her to campus.

After graduation she plans to seek a graduate degree in fall of 2024 around desalinization and has applied to programs across the country – including the Systems Engineering Department at CSU.

“For the spring I am heading back to Lima to spend time with family, travel, hike in the Amazon and Andes, and – most importantly – to ease my mind before getting back into the school-groove,” she said.