Emily Wilcox is a senior electrical engineering major at Eastern.

She has been in the major for four years and she wanted chose this major because, “I have always known that I wanted to study something in engineering,” Wilcox said. “I am good at math, science, and problem solving so I figured it was the right path for me.”

She also said, “I am a 4th generation engineer, so I have a lot of mentors to look up to and follow in their footsteps.”

She comes from a family of engineers, so she feels like that helped her to make her decision to go into the STEM major at Eastern when she arrived in 2020 after graduating high school early.

Regarding her STEM major at Eastern she said, “It has been an overall good experience. I am one of the first graduates from EIU in electrical engineering, so they have been very accommodating. When I came here, I wanted to study engineering technology, and switched to [electrical engineering] after being here for a little bit and it was the right choice for me. I think the small class sizes and getting to know my teachers has helped me.”

This upcoming Spring she will be amongst some of the first Eastern graduates graduating in the major.

Since the STEM major is often very hands on and has a large workload, it can be difficult to manage other things while handling the class load.

Emily is also a member of the volleyball team and said, “The challenges I have faced are mostly centered around the load of work that I have been given. I have homework assignments and exams to study for, that take hours on end and [I] can leave lectures having no idea what I just learned. Other people in my class or my professors may not understand the time commitment that sports really are and how hard I must work outside of my classes.”

Although she has balanced a heavy class load and a position on the volleyball team over the last four years, she has been efficient and successful.

“I know how much of a workload she has a lot of days, and it is really impressive to see how she handles that and still shows up and works hard at practice every day,” said her teammate, Lilli Amettis.

Her coach Sara Thomas said, “Emily has always been extremely organized and balances being a student athlete very well. She has impressive time management which will help her excel in anything she does, being a STEM major and an athlete you must be disciplined, and Emily is the true definition of that.”

Kaitlyn Flynn can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].