During Finalist weekend, I was speaking with Dr. Jones, a distinguished Texas-Ex, about one of his favorite responses to an interview question. He said that he had once asked a student, “So, what’d you learn about during your biomedical engineering internship.”

The student’s response was short, sweet, and simple: “I learned that I hate biomedical engineering.”

That interaction made me think back to my high school Junior to Senior year summer. In the middle of July, I, an aspiring business and finance major, began an internship in Mexico. I found myself in the middle of the Chiapan tropical rainforest, interning at a cacao farm. I was so intent on studying some form of business, while honing my skills in the Adobe suite. “Maybe I’ll do some business and a little bit of marketing,” I often thought to myself.

But if you look a little further down the page, you can see that neither of those majors are listed, and the ones that are listed are completely different.

“What did I learn during that internship,” I asked myself.

So much. I learned through studying and testing the reutilization of cacao waste, that I wanted to pursue chemical engineering, not business, to better understand how organic material could be converted into new products like fuel, paper, pectin, and more. And I realized through having to write down and present complex questions, while also devising new and unique ways to test waste reutilization techniques that I wanted to continue learning how to think creatively, write well, and present effectively through the Plan II Honors Program. And… that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“But, Mateo, what did you really learn.” That’s the more interesting question. It was those days in Mexico, those genuine conversations with farm workers, those times that I would spend watching managers and workers laugh together, that I learned something that I will never forget. Happiness comes from the true connections we forge, the friendships we form, and the impact we have on those around us. On the farm, where phone signal was a luxury and electricity was a commodity, I was able to see life from a different perspective. I caught rays of happiness from the beaming workers, who not only liked their work, but also deeply enjoyed the company of their coworkers. It was through interacting with them that I was and still am inspired to strengthen my friendships, while also fostering new ones through deep, honest dialogue.

So if I was to tell myself, before I boarded my flight to Mexico, that I was going to learn all of this, that I was going to have a life-changing, almost metamorphic, experience, I could never have believed it. I would say, “No, you’re crazy, Mateo.”

So, during my time at UT, I look forward to finding more experiences like that internship in Mexico, because it is always the experiences that are inherently challenging, oddly uncomfortable, and innately difficult that will lead to a crazy outcome, one that I could never dream of.

“What’d I learn?” – Be challenged and be uncomfortable, but most importantly, do the crazy thing.

Majors:
Chemical Engineering, Plan II Honors

Honors Program:
Plan II Honors

What drew you to the Forty Acres Scholars Program?
I was first drawn to the cohort aspect of the Program. Being able to go through all four years of college with the same group of inspired peers excited me. I was captivated by the genuine conversations and relationships that I was able to have during Finalist Weekend. Also, I was allured to the connective power of the program. The program encourages and supports genuine mentorship from alumni and faculty who care about the scholar. I was especially drawn by the ability to meet and mingle with alumni who will be able to offer research opportunities, internships, and connections, but also valuable life lessons and advice.