Often, students at Trinity University have to make the heart-wrenching decision between advancing their academic career and investing their valuable time into their passions. For Luke Edwards, sophomore engineering major, finding the balance between these two things is crucial to maintaining his happiness.
“I’m trying to develop a better way to pursue side projects while I’m getting a lot of work done on a main project,” Edwards said. “I mean, obviously, I’m not going to have a lot of free time, but I want to figure out how to do things before I burn out on an idea and never complete it.”
As an engineering major, Edwards is gaining experience and knowledge in design and fabrication techniques. This major is known for being especially rigorous at Trinity, and Edwards actively struggles to find the time to get involved with much else on campus. The ability to learn about design is partially why Edwards chose to pursue engineering because it gives him a creative outlet. He spends a lot of his free time meticulously designing various art pieces.
“I work very small scale since it’s kind of a mix of me being too focused and also not focused enough for projects. I will hyperfixate on very small details. But that also comes with the cost of me burning out on projects really fast if it’s anything that’s larger than the palm of my hand. So generally, I’ll just try to brainstorm ideas,” Edwards said. “I like the challenge of trying to figure out how something works and trying to optimize it. And I’m not good at it, but hopefully that will change with enough time.”
Some of his passion projects include model-making, ceramics and 3D-printed sculptures. He said that a lot of his projects are left unfinished, but that one day, he wants to be able to better balance his main career with his creative endeavors. Although he is not exactly sure what discipline of engineering he wants to pursue, he said he wants to leave an impactful legacy in his wake.
“I want to be able to look back after I’ve had my career and just be happy with what I’ve done. [I want] something I can look back on and think I’ve actually helped people, and I’ve made an impact,” Edwards said. “I’d be happy to think I actually worked my ass off for something that was worth it.”
Edwards chose to kickstart this legacy at Trinity because the engineering program here does not specialize in a specific field of engineering. He does not want to dedicate himself to a field without any experience in its subfields first.
Before moving to San Antonio to attend Trinity, Edwards lived in Midland. He said that although Midland has gorgeous outdoor scenery at sunrise and sunset, changing locations for school has provided him a new perspective on beauty.
“Spending your entire childhood there, you get so used to flat, dusty nothingness that’s just no elevation or terrain, that the moment you actually get to escape for a little bit, it seems amazing there because you have cliffs, you have trees, you have so much greenery, and it’s amazing,” Edwards said. “And I genuinely am happy I grew up in Midland because it actually makes everything else seem really quite special.”
