{"id":139674,"date":"2022-05-09T13:38:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T19:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=139674"},"modified":"2022-05-12T09:06:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T15:06:45","slug":"commencement-feature-melia-qualls-winner-of-2022-uccs-student-achievement-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=139674","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Melia Qualls, winner of the 2022 UCCS Student Achievement Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Melia Qualls, senior, Mechanical Engineering, 2022 Student Achievement Award winner.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since 1982, the UCCS Student Achievement Award has been recognizing students who have made substantial contributions to the quality of student life at UCCS in conjunction with earning a degree.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melia Qualls, a Mechanical Engineering student who is also minoring in Aerospace Engineering, is one of the 2022 Student Achievement Award winners and will be speaking at the afternoon commencement ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel a little overwhelmed,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI want to say something that we\u2019ll all remember.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to excelling academically during her time at UCCS, Melia was also a part of the Society of Women Engineers Club, serving as their treasurer, worked as a teacher\u2019s assistant and lab instructor and was a peer leader for the Gateway Program Seminar (GPS), something she described as a highlight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re kind of a mediator,\u201d she explained of her role in the GPS program. \u201cYou\u2019re not as intimidating as a professor, but you still know all of the resources around campus, and freshman can ask for you for advice.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melia was nominated for the Student Achievement Award by Sarah Long, the Associate Director of the Gateway Program Seminar.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only thing that might rival Melia\u2019s intellect is her authenticity,\u201d Long said. \u201cMelia has become the unsung hero in the countless times she has volunteered for different organizations, courses, departments, research groups and institutes with the primary purpose of making students feel like they matter and they belong. She has proven there is no limit to what can be accomplished.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melia started taking classes at UCCS during her senior year of high school, including photography and math, and enjoyed them so much she decided to pursue her degree here. She cites a lifelong interest in planes and space as the reason she chose engineering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Once I started, I kind of fell in love with the whole program,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melia also recognizes her professors as a source of inspiration, including her time working with a faculty member who was part of the Cassini\u2013Huygens space-research mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have had a really good time getting to know my professors and hearing about what they\u2019ve done out in the world,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can go to them and ask them pretty much anything. It\u2019s given me a better idea of what I\u2019ll be able to do.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melia currently works part-time at Schriever Air Force Base with the Missile Defense Agency and is hoping to transition to full-time work after graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her advice to current students? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon’t give up,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be stressed and you\u2019re going to be tired, but don\u2019t give up. It\u2019s going to be hard, but just push through and ask for help when you need it.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the UCCS Spring 2022 Commencement Ceremonies <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The UCCS\u00a0spring 2022 Commencement ceremonies will celebrate\u00a0degrees conferred to more than 1,500 graduates. More than 1,200 will attend the morning and afternoon ceremonies at the Broadmoor World Arena on May 13, 2022, along with family and friends.\u00a0See the full Commencement program<\/a>\u00a0online.\u00a0View the livestreamed ceremony\u00a0on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melia Qualls, a Mechanical Engineering student who is also minoring in Aerospace Engineering, is one of the 2022 Student Achievement Award winners and will be speaking at the afternoon commencement ceremony. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":139711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,42,332,60],"class_list":["post-139674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","tag-college-of-engineering-and-applied-science","tag-commencement","tag-more-news","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Melia-Qualls-Featured.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-AkO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139674"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139820,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139674\/revisions\/139820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/139711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}