2019 Winner

The DaVinci Body Sculpting Women in STEM 2019 Scholarship Winner

DaVinci Body Sculpting is excited to announce Lindsey Bach from Utah State University as the winner of our 2019 DaVinci Body Sculpting Women in STEM Scholarship. To apply for the scholarship, students had to write about their personal interest in STEM. We are now accepting applications for the 2020 scholarship award.

Lindsey’s Winning Essay

My interest in STEM was revealed during middle school when I realized that my favorite classes involved crunching numbers and problem solving. This realization was confirmed as I made it further into high school and found myself getting more excited about AP calculus than any of my other classes. As a young girl, I dreamed of all the stereotypical dreams that kids do, and decided I wanted to be an astronaut. As I grew up and became a bit more realistic, I thought I would be the next best thing; an engineer. Ever since then, becoming an engineer has always been a major goal of mine. I sometimes think back to when I was younger and had no idea what hardships and challenges this goal of mine would bring, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I believe that the naive nature and optimism I possessed as a young girl who dreamed of becoming an astronaut, was the initial inspiration and mindset that has brought me to where I am today. I am grateful to that little girl who was fascinated by astronauts and the STEM field, for starting the path that has now become my STEM journey.

Although cheesy and slightly ambiguous, my truthful answer to “Do you have a STEM mentor?” is that I am fortunate to have an entire community of STEM mentors. Four years ago when I was a young and naive freshmen in engineering who was eager and overenthusiastic about the STEM field, I was introduced to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Little did I know at the time, that SWE would be my rock, my motivation, and my hope through the journey that engineering was and continues to be for me. It wasn’t too long into my engineering curriculum that I ended up failing one of my very first engineering courses. In typical “4.0 GPA High School graduate” fashion- I considered this failure to be of the upmost epic ones to ever happen to me at the time. I immediately started perusing alternative non-engineering majors in a state of panic and uncertainty, without a plan in sight. I tried to block out the comments like “it only gets harder from here on out”, along with the self-doubt and embarrassment that was inflicted after this failure. I realized that this was a pivotal moment in my life where I knew I needed to make a choice. I was painfully close to closing the door on the STEM field a few years ago and moving on to something I thought would be more attainable. I now reflect on the accomplishments I’ve made, the internships I’ve had, the skills I’ve acquired, and most importantly, the confidence and growth that I’ve gained within myself. That being said, it’s hard to say that I would’ve made it through this time without the support system of mentors that I had right alongside me. I was fortunate enough to have a group of absolutely inspiring and ambitious women in SWE that gave me nothing but encouragement, confidence and most importantly hope that I could success in the STEM industry. It’s these kind of women in STEM that set the bar so high and allow those below them to achieve the unthinkable. My first epic failure has turned into utter success because of how I reacted to the situation, with the help of my mentors and community. I look back at myself freshman year and I can’t help but be so proud of how far I’ve come, and so grateful for everyone that has helped along the way. I owe a lot of my success to my community of mentors that I had during those times. I am now finishing up my fourth year of engineering school, with one more year to go until I graduate. It has taken me a little bit longer than most, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I plan to walk across the stage at graduation next year alongside all the inspiring women that helped me get there. Through the late nights, the tears, the loss of direction, the failures, and the confidence blows, my community of mentors in SWE was what carried me through some of the most challenging times. I will forever be grateful for my mentors and will continue to pass on to others what they have passed on to me.

When I think about using STEM in the future, I think about something much bigger than myself. I think about the vast amount of problems in the world that currently exist, and then I think about how a large majority of these problems are trusted to be fixed by engineers. This thought in itself gives me added motivation and drive to be one of those engineers. I’ve learned that I don’t want to limit myself when it comes to a particular career path. My main goal that I plan to base my decisions off of is being a part of a company or institution where I truly feel good about what I’m doing at the end of the day. It’s a simple rule I have, but I believe it will not only ensure success, but happiness and fulfillment in not only my future, but others’ as well. Last summer I was fortunate enough to intern at a biomedical company that focused on helping eradicate colon cancer through alternate diagnostic methods. This coming Summer, I will be interning for an Environmental Engineering firm that ensures clean drinking water for humanity across the globe. It’s companies like these that have not only instilled these career values in me, but have kept me motivated through the challenges and rigorous coursework in engineering school. I know that the combination of my STEM degree along with my attitude and determination, I will not only be able to have a successful career, but more importantly make an impact on a greater cause. If I can even just make a small contribution to one of the world’s problems, whether that be in the biomedical industry, or the environmental waste water industry, I will consider that to be ultimate success.