Anya Benninger
Student Writer
Katie Bunch
Year: First-Year
Major: Mechanical engineering
How did you choose your major?
In high school, I was interested in math and science, so I knew I wanted to go into something in that field. I didn’t really know a lot so my parents suggested engineering because they felt that’s what I would be interested in. So I’m not certain that I want to be an engineer, but I’m starting out in it just to see what it’s all about.
Was there any particular incident in your childhood that sparked your interest in math and science?
It’s really funny, I actually hated math up until eighth grade. Then I don’t know what happened, I did a math problem for fun during the summer and there was a complete one-eighty. It’s been my favorite subject ever since. Calculus is really what made me curious about math, as well as a lot of my science textbooks. I just find science as a whole fascinating.
What is a piece of advice you would give to someone younger than you?
A piece of advice I would give is to be respectful to other people because that’s something I place a lot of value in. I think in society today, there is a lack of respect in a lot of different ways, and even a little bit of respect is, first of all, a way of loving others and showing honor to those older or in authority, and then to those around you. But also it can really uplift us in society as a whole.
What is your advice as to how to respect people?
I think there are a lot of ways to go about respecting other people. I think learning from your mistakes is a big part of it. A lot of the time if we don’t think about what we do in the past. We don’t know that there’s a problem or see anything, so thinking back on your conversations and the things you’ve said in the past is a way of learning to respect people. Then if you see in your past that you were super disrespectful you can know, “okay, I don’t need to do that again,” so you can watch what you’re doing in the future.
What is your favorite kind of cheese and why?
In respect to eating it by itself, I like swiss cheese the best. I don’t know why, but that is the only one where I can eat straight cheese in larger amounts. But then if you’re talking about eating it with anything else, probably mozzarella. It goes really good on pizza or in fried mozzarella sticks.