Alex Gonzalez knew that once she came into college, she wanted to be a part of something that brought together the Hispanic community.

Born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, Gonzalez found her home within the community and made it her mission to be an advocate.

Family and friends are close to Gonzalez’s heart.

“I got really lucky that my parents were also very STEM-minded, and they really wanted me to pursue that,” Gonzalez said. “They were always very supportive of my education.”

Growing up, Gonzalez found herself one of the few Hispanic members of STEM-based clubs within her community.

Pursuing a degree in engineering, Gonzalez works with a Stantec Engineering consultant in civil design.

“If there’s a dam that’s old and needs renovating that’s a very very high-risk thing,” Gonzalez said.”If that dam fails, the entire community all surrounding communities get affected by it.”

Gonzalez is a part of the Civil Cats group at UK, which creates opportunities for internships, highlights classes and helps students get connected with professors and companies to help them succeed.

Even though engineering is a “close-knit community,” Gonzalez feels it is a close community that can help students find who they want to be.

Being president of the Latino Student Union and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers has helped her achieve this goal.

“I think being at UK and having a bigger community that is so diverse…I think it kind of helps you hone in on who you are and what you value,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez’s leadership and talent made president of the Transfer Student Association, Xavier Galan, reach out, helping him to “get the group off the ground.”

“You realize that you get to the point where you have people that are starting to look at you like that, and that is the most rewarding feeling in the world,” Gonzalez said.

The Transfer Student Association is a group dedicated to UK students who missed out on their freshman experience to get connected with each other, according to Gonzalez.

“When you come in as a transfer student, you don’t have the BBN orientation…you kind of skip over all that,” Gonzalez said. “So you feel lost for a really long time until you find your group.”

Having 1,000 connections on LinkedIn, Gonzalez believes that networking is extremely important when pursuing one’s goals.

According to Gonzalez, having these relations helps open your mind to new perspectives and ideas.

“I love meeting people and getting to know their story. I think that’s something so special. Everyone has a story,” Gonzalez said. “Being able to have relationships where you can dig deeper is also very important.”

Gonzalez wants to be able to connect students with these resources. It has been a passion of hers since a young age.

“There’s so much that our college has to offer that a lot of people just don’t know about and a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about what civil engineers do,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just something that we try… and help explain in a really fun way.”

She said maintaining these clubs and helping be a resource for students takes up all of her free time.

“You have a lot of these full circle moments where, when you get in, you’re the scared little kid that you see the president and vice president… doing all these amazing things and you look up to them so much,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said she considers herself an advocate for the Hispanic community, but doesn’t like to be seen as the “poster person.”

“I really just like being a resource. I don’t really like having my face on the front of things, but I really like being able to be that person that people know,” Gonzalez said. “You’re connected with all these people…I really just like getting people connected and making people aware of those things.”

Following her own moral compass and authenticity, Gonzalez knew she had to hold herself to a high standard in order to be successful within her career.

“You need that one person that’s going to give someone the push to do better… I would rather be that person knowing that I have the intentions that I do, than let them learn the hard way,” Gonzalez said.