![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
<\/a>CELEBRATING SUCCESS:<\/strong> UToledo recognizes the Class of 2022 with a series of stories featuring students receiving their degrees at spring commencement<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n Not only did she twirl all four years she was there, she was a feature twirler for the Rocket Marching Band her freshman and sophomore years.<\/p>\n And following her May graduation, the Construction Engineering Technology student will join a select group of women who are entering a historically male-dominated construction career field.<\/p>\n Women make up about 10% of the construction industry\u2019s workforce, according to an estimate from the National Association of Women in Construction.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an incoming freshman I had a lot of doubts,\u201d Hill said. \u201cI had very little prior knowledge about construction before starting school. Not only was I worried about how I was going to do in my major but also in college in general.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I always loved to build things,\u201d she said, \u201cand after I learned about the different majors offered at UToledo during my tour of the engineering college, I was able to decide that construction engineering was right for me. I applied to a lot of other colleges just to see what else was out there, but The University of Toledo just felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n Hill\u2019s first co-op was spent building an apartment complex in Michigan, where she was able to learn about the construction process firsthand. Her second and third co-ops were in Seattle, where she worked on a heavy civil project with Kiewit Construction.<\/p>\n That was where she \u201cfell in love with bridges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI even secured a full-time position as a field engineer nine months before I graduated, with the company, Kiewit Construction, that I set my sights on during my freshman year,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing is better than having a full-time job lined up before you start your last semester, especially with an amazing company.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of her co-ops, Stephanie Hill worked on a heavy civil project with Kiewit Construction. She accepted a full-time position with the company nine months before her May graduation.<\/p><\/div>\n Before she receives her diploma, Hill has embarked on a successful career path.<\/p>\n \u201cI find myself, after five\u00a0years at UToledo, very confident with the ability to contribute positive ideas and knowledge to topics related to my major,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rhonda Moore, associate co-op director in the Shah Center for Engineering Career Development, said, \u201cStephanie\u2019s co-op evaluations always came back with comments about her great attitude and professional behavior in the field, and her early full-time job offer reflects this. The opportunities for women in Construction Engineering Technology are endless, and I know Stephanie will be a great role model for our future Rocket engineering alumna.\u201d<\/p>\n And just as other women in engineering helped push her forward, Hill said she wants to help bring along others as well.<\/p>\n Her advice?<\/p>\n \u201cAs a woman in construction, it can be intimidating putting yourself on the line, but in my experience, that is how I learn best. Learning is meant for failure and without failure, success would mean less.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stephanie Hill secured a full-time position as a field engineer nine months before she graduated, with the same company she set her sights on during her freshman year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":72967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,34,69,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/756"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72966"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72984,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72966\/revisions\/72984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>