Passing It On

For Giselle Aviles ’25, it started with an industrial technology elective in middle school. From there, the way she saw engineering—and the world—started to change.

Suddenly bridges weren’t just something you drove over but structures designed through numbers and planning. Buildings weren’t just places you lived, but projects brought to completion through teamwork. Each structure was a monument to the hard work of the engineers who built them. 

This idea of legacy is important to Aviles in her engineering career, especially the work she does as co-president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) at Santa Clara University. Even though this club won’t result in a building on campus, she hopes it will speak to the hard work she puts into making it great. 

As part of Santa Clara University’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, we spoke with Aviles about her time at SCU and the important work done by SHPE.

How did you first get involved in SHPE?

I found out about SHPE my freshman year and it quickly became a community for me. It’s like a home away from home. Through SHPE, I’ve met a lot of upperclassmen who became my mentors. They’re always motivating me and getting me through those tough classes, like physics and math. It is wonderful to feel empowered and motivated especially as a Latina studying Civil Engineering.

The club’s name has engineers in it, but it’s open to other majors, too, right?

That’s right. There aren’t many Latiné STEM clubs, so it was important to us to be inclusive and allow other STEM majors to be part of our club. It’s important to me that this club is a place where students —especially first-generation Latinos—can find empowerment to help fight off the imposter syndrome that’s easy to fall into. 

This is your first year as co-president. First, congratulations on that honor. Second, can you tell us a bit about this role and what your responsibilities are?

As Presidents, Co-President Kayla Zapata ’25 and I delegate tasks to the board members—who have been a perfect board so far—and they make connections with different companies and organizations for different internship and networking opportunities.

We just connected with NVIDIA, which is a big software company that is willing to help us out to do workshops. We have Blach Construction coming in for resume workshops. We are in the process of reaching out to STMicroelectronics.

As co-presidents, we also work closely with our faculty advisor, Dr. Rocio Lilen Segura, who has provided us with a lot of advice to grow SHPE and gain more recognition. 

We want to curate a welcoming environment to show alumni and potential donors “Hey, here’s this program at Santa Clara, and we have this wonderful community that will benefit a lot from your help.”

For me personally, I’ve gotten so much out of SHPE. I want it to be widely known on campus. SHPE really cares about its members and has so many resources for students on campus. We all just want to help each other out and establish a supportive community. 

What are you most proud of with SHPE? 

I am most proud of the opportunities SHPE provides. It’s just a great place to find resources to help students get set up for their career. We do a lot of resume workshops, mock interviews, and planning for elevator pitches. We also get companies to come here to talk to our members. It's an opportunity to build your resume and prepare for the job search. 

Our alumni network has also been really supportive. We’ve had students who graduated two years ago come back to help us prepare for job interviews by asking sample questions. Our co-president, Kayla, landed her dream internship by networking with alumni. The support we’ve received has made me want to pass on everything I’ve learned to these freshmen so they have the knowledge and tools they need.

How has joining SHPE impacted your career, both academically and professionally? 

Mentorship and networking are an important part of SHPE. We get to network with alumni who can help with potential jobs and internships. I’ve already made a lot of connections like Rodrigo Mendez ’22, a SCU alum and a civil engineer. Rodrigo has become a big mentor. He gave me all the information I need and kept me motivated to help me get through my first year of college. He would tell me about professors, advise me on which classes to take, and let me know what obstacles I would face. Most importantly, he gave me the resources to help me get through it.

Mai Sinada ’21 is another mentor who helped me out. I met her at my first career fair at SCU. She was a civil engineer a couple of years ago and now works at Whiting-Turner Construction. She helped me land my first internship this past summer with Whiting-Turner Construction and ended up working on the same project as me. It was really cool to see someone who I connected with and who still remembered my name when I introduced myself. 

It’s tough to be a minority in STEM and civil engineering. Having a big alumni presence in SHPE and knowing they are here to help us and that they understand the challenges is encouraging. Seeing them have success has helped me think “I’m Latina, I’m a woman and I'm doing good. I’ve had a lot of opportunities. I have a good resume built up. I can do it.”

What are some of your personal ambitions for the year, outside of SHPE?

This year I want to tap into structural or land development to see if I enjoy being in an office and doing design. I want to start applying more of the skills that I’ve learned within engineering. It’s one of my goals this summer to land that internship specifically at Kimley-Horn. They have a lot of subfields that pique my interest. So it’s somewhere that I’m kind of leaning toward. Then hopefully I’ll get my master’s degree after college. 

How has SHPE impacted your time at Santa Clara

I joined SHPE because I knew it was where I was going to find my resources. It was a place where I didn’t feel like an outsider. I think also being a part of LEAD, which is the first-generation program here at Santa Clara, really provided me with people who I feel comfortable around because I generally gravitate to people who have similar background stories.

I also knew right away I was going to be able to have a big impact on SHPE, too. It provided me with a place where I feel like I belong at Santa Clara. It’s the reason why I’m still here. It's the reason why I’ve been so successful so far.