Santa Clara University

Steffany Castro '08

A meaningful education

Civil engineering seniors Steffany Castro and Edward Reyes decided to finish their education at SCU in a meaningful way: by working on a senior design project relating to water resources. They began work on a gravity water system for Nicaragua in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Agua Para La Vida (APLV). Believing that the theoretical must be made practical, Castro and her advisor, Assistant Professor Edward Maurer, worked with SCU’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education to set up an immersion trip during spring break.

“The issue of water is so basic, yet so many people are without it," said Castro "08. "For four years, I’ve been living with the three C’s of a Jesuit education: competence, conscience, and compassion. I am competent to do the work; I feel compassion for those without adequate water, and my conscience tells me that I need to use what I’ve learned to help others as much as I can.”

Read more about this immersion trip.

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