Student Experience: Mason Salazar

You’re very involved with TRIO, a student support service offered at colleges to provide students with academic help and assistance, and it seems like you found a home here. What do you think contributed to that?
"What I think contributed to it was really finding myself. TRIO provides all the tools and support necessary to succeed at the college level, all for free! Getting into college made me think that it was all proper and professional. TRIO completely changed that for me. They taught me that college isn't just a place to find what you want to do, but to learn how to express yourself in a world that you couldn't before. TRIO was just a catalyst for the self-confidence I have now. The more that I grew into my college time with them, the more I grew into myself and the person I am today.”

What happened in high school that made you say, "Yeah, I want to go for engineering"? How did you get to that point?
"So, in my high school, we were put into pathways based on our interests. There was engineering, health science, aerospace. There were a lot of different branches, but I was put into aviation. My friends and I had worked at an airport as well. It was Dallas Executive Airport. I got an internship over there, and it was really cool work, really awesome seeing everything. Then I volunteered at the airport as well because they had these air shows and workshops tailored to kids. They had these veteran events as well. But I got the interest in it from the internship and growing up in that environment in high school."

What legacy do you want to leave behind?
"What I'd want to leave behind are the connections. To make other people around me better because it's worked for my workplace. It's like my presence is enough to be in that — it just feels like nurturing or caring. So, just to bring that kind of effect wherever I am and just for it to be there, I think that's the legacy I want."  

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