The funds provided by a municipal engineering firm, which specializes in civil engineering, design construction management, project management, traffic and transportation engineering, and land use, will be used to award $3,000 scholarships to five civil engineering students.
Alumna Melissa Demirci (’10, civil engineering), who holds a leadership role at Transtech, said the scholarships exemplify the company’s value of giving back to the community.
“When students apply for scholarships, it’s because there’s a need to be successful – they take out loans to get their education and for our company to be able to assist financially even if it’s just a little bit means the world to us.” Demirci said. “To make sure those students are as successful as possible, Transtech will do what we can do to lessen that burden.”
Demirci made personal gifts to the college after she graduated in honor of the education she received. She credits the projects and hands-on experience she gained during her undergraduate years with her success in the civil engineering industry.
“I was very fortunate to have really great mentors and fellow female students. We helped each other through the program,” Demirci said. “I had incredible professors, and the experiences were really hands-on and so practical that I apply those same experiences weekly in my career.”
Demirci’s mother and father, who started Transtech Engineers more than 30 years ago, inspired their daughter to pursue a career in civil engineering.
“To make society great is to give the best service that impacts people, and as a company we’re all about giving,” Demirci said. “Those values contributed a lot to my success and the success of the company. Cal Poly Pomona is a big player in the civil engineering industry in the region, and we’re proud to support the campus and the future students graduating from the civil engineering program.”
The Transtech Engineering scholarship will be awarded to civil engineering students with a 3.0 GPA or higher who have completed at least two years of their major. This year, Kevin Gutierrez, Esther Kala, Johnny Baradii, Leonardo Martinez and Edward Clay were awarded the scholarships and will graduate in Spring 2020.
Visit https://www.cpp.edu/~giving/ for more information on how to support Cal Poly Pomona.