ITE: A Spark Within Rocks

Hello everyone! My name is Eleanor Scott, and I am a sophomore in Electrical Engineering. When I entered college, I thought my entire life would surround electricity. I would study my electrical engineering classes, hang out with only electrical engineering friends, and join electrical engineering clubs. While the class part turned out to be true, I did not quite adhere to the rest of it. That all changed when I joined the STEM Ambassadors. I was able to meet more people outside my major, and I also decided to join the student chapter of ITE. ITE stands for Institute of Transportation Engineers, which doesn’t sound like a place for an Electrical but stick with me. I knew a couple of friends in the club that I met through STEM Ambassadors, and they invited me to one of the interest meetings that ITE was holding. I looked around the room at the number of Civil Engineers and wanted to bolt, but I stayed for the entirety. I could not be happier that I did.

Now I am acting as a primary officer and secretary for the organization, and I have made so many friends in doing so. I never thought that I would spend most of my time with Civil Engineers, but here I am! ITE is an amazing organization that does so much. The organization promotes professional development and career advancement for its members and supports and encourages education regardless of major. Since I have been a part of ITE, we have planned a football tailgate, professional speaker events, and even a traffic bowl trivia.

One of the things that ITE does is attend the annual Traffic Bowl and compete against other collegiate teams for the championship. I look forward to cheering on my team as they go against the other ITE teams in the Southern District. ITE is an amazing organization that has done so much in the short time that I have been a part of it. Learning the difference between gap and headway is not the image I had in mind when I started the year, but I would not have it any other way. I am glad I joined STEM Ambassadors, so I could learn about this amazing organization.