Morgan Golden spent part of freshman year at Washington building a submarine.
Morgan Golden overcame odds to earn a degree at Western Nevada College, then transfer to a four-year university. She was raised by a single parent, Holly Morrow, and she is the first in her family to attend college.
“My mom is probably the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” Golden said. “She sacrificed, working night shifts, day shifts. She would work multiple jobs so (brother) Gavin and I had anything and everything we could have asked for.
“She always put us first, even if it meant that if there was anything that she wanted to do, or something to take care of herself, that was put last. Being older, I really value that more, just because I can clearly see the sacrifices she made.”
Golden recently reflected on the impact that WNC’s Jump Start program has had on her education. The dual enrollment program enables juniors and seniors from various Nevada high schools and academies to earn up to an associate degree by the time they graduate from their secondary school.
“I definitely feel very fortunate, especially going to the school I am now; I can see the impact of Jump Start compared to AP classes and other high school classes,” she said. “It not only helped me academically prepare for college, but it helped me on a social skill level and growing and maturing as a person.”
Golden is attending the University of Washington in Seattle as an aerospace and aeronautical engineering student.
Golden said instruction from WNC Liberal Arts Director Scott Morrison was rewarding because he taught his students how they would benefit from learning calculus.
“He was very inspirational in teaching why we learn the math that we do,” Golden said. “He really instilled the importance of not only their material but how to apply it to the real world.”
At Washington, Golden participated in five engineering clubs as a freshman. In one of them, she helped build a mini-submarine.
“That was the most strenuous activity that I did this year, for one of my clubs. It was a really cool opportunity,” Golden said. “We spent three quarters of the year working on it, from designing it online, using CAD software, to actually manufacturing it, creating the coding and making sure everything worked.”
With a wide range of career possibilities in engineering, Golden believes she has narrowed it down to a particular interest: “I’ve always wanted to work in aviation of some sort, but now I’ve honed it down to wanting to do aviation design — particularly passenger aircrafts,” Golden said. “Making things more environmentally friendly is something I’m really focusing on just because that is a problem we see nowadays as the world is running out of fossil fuels. There are things that you can change in the aviation world, so I want to focus on that.”
