From a young age, Ilana Hoffer knew she wanted to be an engineer. Even as a child, she would often build structures with Legos, tinker with electronics, and try to understand how things worked. As her grandfather was an engineer, she had a role model to look to. As time went on and she began to take more engineering-related classes, she also began to think about what she might want to do with engineering skills: specifically, to help people.

Hoffer imagines that she might be able to apply her talent and passion for engineering to create prosthetic limbs or make other tools more accessible “because accessibility is… so often overlooked.”

Just as she has always enjoyed working with her hands, Hoffer says she needs to see the tangible impact of her work. For this reason, she would rather work for a local non-profit or on a specific product than for a large company.

While she hopes people think of her as a supportive, helpful, hard-working person, she says she is also happy to fly under the radar. This seems to be a long-standing theme in her life, as Hoffer says she has always valued her solitude.

“You can go and sit in the snow and no one will bother you,” she mused. For this reason, she hopes she can go to college somewhere north, where it snows.

While she’s not exactly sure where an engineering degree could lead her as an adult, she is motivated to continue pursuing engineering and developing her passion for helping people.