Junior Year Reflections with Katheryn ’23

As we approach the start of a new school year, let’s take a look at Katheryn Wang’s (‘23) junior year! Katheryn is an Engineering and History double major; on top of an Engineering degree at Harvey Mudd, she is also pursuing an off-campus History major at Scripps College. 

Within her Engineering major, Katheryn is most interested in mechanical engineering, though she recently participated in a manufacturing internship that she really enjoyed. Regarding her decision to double-major in history, she shared: “I declared my History major in my junior fall, which is pretty late but still doable. I ultimately decided to do my major at Scripps after emailing history chairs at the other Claremont Colleges as it allowed for many of my HSA classes to be cross-listed as history credits.”

Katheryn has been living at Atwood for all four years at HMC and will be an Atwood dorm president in her senior year. She was assigned to Atwood as a freshman and shares a “roommate lunch” with her two frosh year roommates as frequently as possible. “I think the suite layout is impeccable, with one suite occupying every corner of the dorm. I also like how the suites are very distinct and close to each other, though it does cause the courtyard to feel a bit more boxed in”.

Katheryn has also been an HMC Makerspace steward (check her out on the Makerspace website!) since it first opened in her junior fall. On top of her personal projects (like a bedazzled cap and longboard personalization), she enjoys spending time in the space just to do work or interact with other creators and stewards. “I love the Makerspace very much – please come in! Our head stewards are amazing (and we’re better than the Machine Shop). One of my favorite things about the makerspace is that a lot of stewards also choose to spend their time there even if they aren’t on shift, and we’re always happy to help even if we aren’t on the clock.”

One of the most impactful (and time/soul-consuming) engineering core courses is Experimental Engineering (lovingly referred to as E80 amongst Mudders), which Katheryn took this past Spring. She was also a member of the Fall 2021-22 Meggitt Clinic team and enjoyed spending time outside of classes working and even taking finals or conducting meetings in the Engineering Clinic rooms. 

Katheryn is also an active member of several clubs and organizations at Harvey Mudd, including the Muddraker and MuddEscapes (which you can read more about here!). She looks forward to planning a collaboration between the two groups as the vice president of MuddEscapes and the Chief of Business at the Muddraker (subscribe to the Muddraker webpage!). Katheryn also hosts a queer bible study at the Queer Resource Center of The Claremont Colleges (QRC).