Alumni Board Scholar Profile: Q&A with 2015 Scholar Indica Mestas

Boettcher Scholar Year: 2015
Hometown: Capulin
University & Degrees: Colorado School of Mines, BS in Chemical Engineering (2019)

What are you currently interested in pursuing after graduating?

I am planning to go into the biomedical industry with a focus in implants and prostheses. I have recently been made aware of an opportunity to work with surgeons in an environment that allows trained personnel to assist with surgeries and advise the surgeons on how to use new devices and technology. I would love to work in this industry, as it allows me to combine my passions of helping people and engineering as it pertains to the human body.

Tell us about what activities, groups, and/or organizations you have joined in college and why you joined them.

I have loved the small community atmosphere of the Boettcher Scholar group at Mines, and have made some very close friends within our group throughout my time here. I have enjoyed volunteering, both with organizations and on my own. I love giving back to my community and helping other people to have better experiences. I also have worked for a program that strives to strengthen the diversity of Mines. This was a program that I was able to attend in high school, and I enjoy allowing Colorado students to have the chance to have the same opportunity.

Tell us about an important mentor you have had.

I cannot pick one mentor, as I have had a whole support network of people without whom I would not be here today. The woman who led my first experience at Mines has always lent a listening ear, providing great advice about school and life. All of the Scholar mentors I’ve had in the past were amazing, always ready with a comforting word, a plan of action, or just a hug. I’ve formed bonds with professors, academic coaches, and other students. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it really takes a village to make a person who they are.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I received was actually from a Boettcher Alum at a meet-and-greet held by the Foundation. It was a message in a bottle from Raquel “Kelley” Ritz, and it was something along the lines of, “Find who and what you love, what makes you happy, and fight for it. Never settle for anything less.” This resonated with me deeply and stayed with me throughout my college experience. At times the path that I had chosen was difficult, but that little quote was always in my head, pushing me through and making me keep my resolve.

 If you could have dinner with one person or a few people from history, who would you choose and why?

There are many people from history who have done amazing things, but the people I would choose would be my late family members. There are a few that passed away before I was old enough to know anything important about them. There are also a few that I was old enough to know, but had never considered that I might lose them before I really got to know them. Sometimes I think that we are just stories at the end of our lives, but those will still go on to shape those who come after us.