SOCORRO, N.M. – Blazing a trail for her five younger siblings, Vanessa Majalca recently graduated from New Mexico Tech with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and is embarking on a career as a transportation engineer. Being the first in her family to graduate from a university, Majalca attributes the success she’s achieved to her teachers, her family’s support, and to the financial help she received from a scholarship she was awarded her freshman year, the E. Eugene Carter Opportunity Scholarship.

Funded by the EEC Foundation of Arlington, Massachusetts, the E. Eugene Carter Opportunity Scholarship repays recipients’ federal student loans, making a college education possible for students who may otherwise be unable to afford it. This scholarship program is specifically targeted toward Hispanic females in engineering. The year Majalca received the scholarship, two other female New Mexico Tech students, who have since graduated, also received the funding.

“It was really validating,” Majalca said about receiving the scholarship.. “It really did help a lot. It covered everything. It meant I wouldn’t be burdened with student loans once I graduated.”

Since she applied for and received the Carter Opportunity Scholarship during her first year at New Mexico Tech, Majalca was able to quit an off-campus part-time job, focus on her studies, get involved in student organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and put time into her design project. Majalca was part of a team of engineering students from New Mexico Tech who competed against other universities at an engineering design competition held in Houston, Texas, in March 2022, building a prototype of a concrete canoe.

“We had to race it against other schools on a lake,” Majalca said. “It was really fun.”

Majalca took a career survey back in middle school that influenced her desire to study engineering in college. She credits her math teacher at Belen High School who encouraged her to consider a career path  not many female students she knew considered. 

Majalca’s parents were immigrants, were young when they had her, and didn’t finish high school. Because she didn’t have many role models, she decided to become one herself to her two younger sisters and three younger brothers.

“I wanted to show them that they can go to college and into a field,” she said. “I definitely wanted them to see it’s an option.”

Next up for the newly minted college graduate is a new job at Molzen Corbin, an engineering firm in Albuquerque. Majalca will work on projects involving roads, parks, airports, and other public works.

“I’ll be applying everything I learned in school.,” she said. “I’m not sure what to expect, but it will be interesting.”