The Building Blocks of Discovery
By: Cassandra Mitsinikos, ASP Class of 2014

If you were to ask me what my favorite school subject was in eighth grade, I am sure I would have said math. Throughout my young life I had gone from the basics of addition and subtraction, multiplication, and division in elementary school to solving for “X” and graphing
functions in middle school. Since then and since there is always more math to learn, I have learned to solve multivariable differential equations and I still haven’t tired of learning about the numbers and symbols that I’ve come to find in the world around me. 

The Academy of St. Paul fostered my love of learning, which has proven to be a strong foundation as I’ve continued my education in high school, college, and now in my work as a structural engineer. The way that I was taught made me curious; the assignments I was given inspired my creativity. Curiosity and creativity are important building blocks for succeeding in so many different fields, as they develop into the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to analyze a literary argument, debug lines of code, or design the span of a bridge. 

A major influence on my decision to study engineering was the Future City competition that my eighth grade class participated in. Over many months we virtually, hypothetically and physically designed a city set 150 years in the future. We researched what the future of solar power might look like, how maglev trains work, laid out roads to minimize traffic for future vehicles, (driver or driverless), and created scale models of these cities using recycled materials. This experience showed me how engineers are able to design a better world for humanity, whether that be through resilient buildings, sustainable energy systems, AI and robotics to enhance our lives, or life-saving medical devices. 

When I graduated ASP, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted for my future career, but I know that I was excited to keep learning more. I had already started developing the critical thinking and problem solving skills that I would need in my higher education and beyond. Perhaps more importantly though, I also knew I wanted to use these skills to make the world a better place. Curiosity, creativity and compassion from my early years helped me become the confident and conscientious structural engineer that I am today.