Ryle Lindbergh will be a senior this fall at Sequim High School. This summer, he got a head start on some fascinating studies.

Lindbergh was the only Washington resident accepted into the Purdue University STEP Program. The one-week camp, hosted at Purdue University facilities in West Lafayette, Ind., focused on engineering.

Here, Lindbergh tells us a bit about the experience.

“During the week that I spent living on the Purdue campus, I met over 120 amazing kids who are as interested in engineering as I am. Although the campus, professors and the STEP program were all great, I think what ended up causing me to go back is the students.

Whether we were building roller coasters from scratch or putting together robots for a competition, I always felt at home there. I was an important part of my team — we were split up into 30 groups of four — and even though the challenges themselves weren’t very difficult, it was a rush to know that we were achieving something worthwhile.

At Purdue, I had a firsthand look at the beautiful campus, everything from the red brick buildings, to the clock tower, to the massive lecture halls. I slept in the dorms, I ate in the dining halls. I even got to ride their mascot, the Boilermaker Train! I sat in on a few summer classes and talked one-on-one with some of the professors.

The STEP program itself was fantastic. It was put together almost entirely by undergrads, with the help of a professor. They worked tirelessly to make sure that our week there was the best that it could be and it showed.

The camp was very focused on engineering. My favorite part was when we built robots during the last two days. The process of designing, building and testing, which is normally a blast on its own, was brought to a whole new level when I worked with people I had just met.

I started really getting into STEM studies when I joined my school’s robotics club, the Sequim High School Robotics Club, FRC Team 3826. That was my first experience in engineering and I still enjoy it just as much today. I envision myself going into Software and Applications Development (making programs) or some similar discipline.

At this point, Purdue seems like a nice fit for me, and unless something better appears, I most likely will be attending.

By the time I was leaving the campus to come back home, I already felt like I was attending Purdue. As far away as it may be, something about the knowledge-driven atmosphere felt natural. I wouldn’t trade my time there for anything.”

Everyone has a story and now they have a place to tell it. Verbatim is a first-person column that introduces you to your neighbors as they relate in their own words some of the difficult, humorous, moving or just plain fun moments in their lives. It’s all part of the Gazette’s commitment as your community newspaper. If you have a story for Verbatim, contact editor Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.