The Hedgehog Cactus Flowers Pathway: Students with an Unconventional Route to Engineering
Echinocereus viridiflorus: Hedgehog cacti are cylindrical plants that produce large flowers. The base of the plant is soft and is protected by sharp, protruding spines.
Overview of Students’ Experiences:
The women represented by this pathway did not experience the traditional high school to university pathway. Instead, these students encountered various transition points and stoppages, including: matriculation at community colleges; interruptions to their schooling due to family reasons (such as giving birth); and the decision to change their academic majors multiple times. Some of these students went from high school to community college to university. Others went from high school to university then to community colleges then back to a university. Meanwhile, some went from high school to university to community college to another community college, then returned to university.
“So going to community college, it was just nice... Then going from community college to university was a giant leap. I took a gap year in between because I had a lot of family stuff going on”- Brenda
“First two years I was a business major. I was a biology major, then a business major, then a finance major. It was just a lot going on. I didn't know. I didn't have a sense of direction. I didn't know what I wanted to do at all…It doesn't matter what major it is or what course it is, everything is kind of difficult for me”- Hilda
“My storyline is a little different. I transferred from a community college. That whole transition was really, really different. At my community college, I went to [redacted community college]. They really didn't have a lot of coding ... They had like two coding classes...When I transferred to [redacted university], it was just a whole different culture, a whole different thing”- Kaitlyn