We are a great group of people in civil.
Angel Oparaocha started at UMD as a freshman in Fall 2022. She grew up in Maryland, so UMD was close to home, and both her siblings are Clark School alumni. Angel was initially a mechanical engineering major, but she switched to civil engineering in her first semester. after seeing at the Career Fair that more jobs she was interested in fell under civil. She likes the bigger scale of civil engineering projects. She is now a Junior in the Transportation/ Project Management track.
Angel says adjusting to the classes and workload were challenging freshman year, but her advice to newer freshmen is to “keep pushing through.” She has enjoyed some of her classes; she says ENCE200 (Civil Engineering Graphics for Design and Construction) gave her a good foundation in AutoCAD, and ENCE302 (Probability and Statistics for Civil and Environmental Engineering) taught her a lot about the probability of scenarios. Her favorite thing about being a civil engineering major at UMD is the friendships she has made; “we are a great group of people in civil,” she says.
This semester Angel helped start a UMD student chapter of the National Society of Minority Contractors. This organization promotes diversity and opportunities for students to network with professionals in the construction industry. She is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Concrete Canoe, and the Black Engineers Society, and is a peer advisor with Engineering Career Services.
Angel has had two internships over the last two summers. In Summer 2023, she interned for DPR Construction, where she worked on the construction of a data center. In Summer 2024, she interned for Whiting Turner, assisting with construction of an apartment renovation project.
In her free time Angel enjoys doing pilates and yoga, as well as attending concerts, watching movies, and spending time with her two dogs. She also likes to travel; this past summer she went to Thailand and the Bahamas, and last year she went to Hawaii.
After graduation Angel hopes to get a project management job related to sustainability or renewable energy, ideally one that allows her to travel. In the meantime, she is making the most of the opportunities UMD and CEE have to offer, and enjoying the friendships she’s built in the process.
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