After spending seven months building a robot and helping his team earn 7th place in a national competition, Turlock Christian senior Casey Snyder decided engineering was his future career choice.
He always liked engineering. He took an engineering class his freshman and junior years of high school when he attended Turlock High School and loved it. But that moment at the competition, Snyder realized he was good at it too. A career in something he loves and he is good at seems like the way to go to the Turlock teen.
“There is so much you can do with engineering,” Snyder said. “I like the math a lot, the hands on learning and the fact that you can build things.”
Snyder will be graduating from Turlock Christian High School on May 28. He will then start school at California State University, Fresno in the fall to major in mechanical engineering.
He isn’t sure what type of engineering he wants to go into but he is thinking about going into robotics, he said. He has built robots before in the past through school and he has even built two of his own at home.
One of the robots he built by himself has the ability to follow light. However, his personal robots aren’t capable of doing his chores yet.
“It’s fascinating because it does things humans do but you programmed it,” Snyder said.
He also builds rockets at home to explore more of his engineering talents.
After he finishes his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Snyder is thinking about getting his master’s degree in engineering through California State University, Fresno. His school also offers internships that he is interested in taking on.
Snyder was also accepted to Cal Poly-Ponoma but he decided the overall environment at Fresno State was a better fit for him and his future.
He is most looking forward to all the options after he is done with school, he said. Engineering has become a popular field to go into with many options available for a young professional.
With endless possibilities and his passion for engineering, Snyder is excited to start walking down the pathway to his future career.
“You design something, build it, test it and improve it,” he said. “All your hard work pays off.”
To contact Maegan Martens, e-mail mmartens@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2015.