I run because it's my outlet to
connect with the world, 
connect with the environment. 
At times it's hard. 
I always find that the hardest
part of my run
is the first mile.
And it's not because I need to
step out of the door, 
but it's about getting your 
body and footwork
and everything in a
motion to start going.
One day I said to myself, you
know I want to run a marathon. 
For me it was a challenge. 
It was like, let me see if I can
do something that I thought
at one day I would never 
be capable of doing.
Each race I look at seeing how I
can do it better the next time. 
And not every time it's
achievable. 
The key is, after you've run
and whether or not you've
improved or not,
you say to yourself
congratulations
and accept what you 
did because guess what,
you've just finished 
a marathon,right? 
So there's a lot of continuous
improvement from the standpoint
of how you approach the race.
It has really become a major
part of my life.
I was raised in a very
underprivileged environment, 
single parent, very much 
of a struggle. 
I had no idea I wanted 
to be an engineer. 
Most of my friends were going on
to college to be engineers. 
And I really had no familiarity
in regards to what that was, 
but I knew because I was 
good in sciences, 
that whole STEM environment and
all the other things, 
and math, that I thought I could
be successful. 
And for me it was about really
kind of getting out
of the environment I was in,
trying to give myself the
possibilities
or opportunities outside.
Where I'm at now, is how do I
actually introduce others
to the field of engineering?
Now that I've actually had the
ability to understand
what it means to be an engineer.
One of the things that I was
really working with NEI on 
was to help them understand how
could they get more engaged 
in a diverse population 
of individuals 
to help them identify that they
can actually be
engineers in the
nuclear industry?
Or at least translate to these
students the opportunities
that would be in the 
nuclear industry?
Because I think we owe it to
them to be able to make sure
that they have a place in that
STEM environment.
When I think of nuclear 
I think of longevity
from a standpoint
of timeline, right?
You know, you think about the
planning process, 
there's a lot of safety pieces
involved in it, 
a lot of process control because
for the nuclear industry
it's very rigorous from 
that standpoint.
But I think individuals have to
have a very technical skill set,
and I think that's why over time
you seem to see the same 
level of people
who are engaged in the 
nuclear industry
from one project to the other.
You see similar faces. And I
think being in the 
business of nuclear power for so
long, we definitely provide
some key inputs to be able to
support advancement 
and where things are going. 
So when we think about the 
work environment,
or getting disadvantaged
students the opportunities 
that would be in the 
nuclear industry, 
any little improvement leads to
the ultimate goal
of eventually improving to where
you need to go.
