For ASCE Day, civil engineering student and chapter vice president Julio Medina Martinez shares how finding his community led to industry connections, professional opportunities and the confidence to pursue a career in engineering.

Before Julio Medina Martinez represented CU Denver at a regional engineering competition, earned second place in the Daniel W. Mead Prize for Students or began interviewing with engineering companies, he made a smaller decision.

He showed up to a student organization meeting.

At the time, Medina Martinez, a civil engineering student in CU Denver’s College of Engineering, Design and Computing, was looking for a sense of belonging.

“I did not realize at the time just how much that decision would change my college experience,” Medina Martinez said. “College gives us an education, but involvement gives us experiences. Those experiences become relationships, those relationships create opportunities, and those opportunities can completely change the direction of your future.”

Today, as vice president of CU Denver’s American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter, he credits that first step with opening doors to professional connections, leadership experiences and opportunities that are shaping his future as an engineer.

Finding Belonging in Engineering

Engineering coursework demands technical precision, persistence and problem-solving. But navigating those challenges can sometimes feel isolating.

“Engineering can sometimes feel very individual. We spend countless hours studying, completing assignments, preparing for exams, and worrying about whether we are doing enough to prepare for our careers,” Medina Martinez said.

“ASCE changed that experience for me because suddenly I was surrounded by students who were going through the same challenges but also had similar ambitions,” he says. “Some of the people I have met through ASCE have become teammates, friends, mentors, and people I know I can rely on.”

Through ASCE, he found community strengthened his connection to engineering while helping him develop skills beyond the classroom.

“The more involved I became, the more I realized that engineering is not only about calculations, equations, or passing difficult classes. It is about people. It is about learning how to communicate, lead, solve problems, work with a team, and ultimately use what we know to improve the communities around us.”

For Medina Martinez, belonging became the foundation for professional confidence.

“ASCE helped me stop seeing myself as simply a student trying to earn an engineering degree and start seeing myself as a future civil engineer with something meaningful to contribute,” he said.

Turning Connections Into Career Opportunities

As his involvement grew, so did his professional network. Through ASCE events and industry engagement, Medina Martinez began connecting with engineers, project managers and recruiters working across the civil engineering profession.

“Before becoming heavily involved with ASCE, the professional engineering world sometimes felt distant,” he said. “I knew that I wanted to become a civil engineer, but there is a major difference between understanding the profession academically and actually sitting across from practicing engineers, project managers, recruiters, and industry leaders and having conversations with them.”

Those connections led to networking opportunities and interviews with engineering companies, helping him develop skills essential to entering the workforce.

“I have learned how to introduce myself professionally, communicate with industry representatives, network, organize events, work within a team, take responsibility for projects, and represent something larger than myself.”

Through experiences like these, CU Denver students can gain firsthand exposure to industry expectations, build professional relationships and develop confidence before graduation.

“ASCE has taught me confidence,” Medina Martinez said. “There was a time when walking into a room full of experienced engineers or company representatives would have been intimidating. Through ASCE, I have learned that as students, we belong in those rooms too.”

Building Skills Through Competition

Medina Martinez has also put his growing confidence into practice through engineering competitions.

At the Rocky Mountain Student Symposium, he earned second place in the regional Daniel W. Mead Prize for Students competition, representing CU Denver alongside engineering students from across the region.

“Receiving that recognition was an incredible moment, but what stayed with me most was what it represented,” he said. “I was standing there representing my university and our student chapter alongside engineering students from across the region. It made me realize how far I had come from simply being a student trying to figure out where I belonged.”

He has also participated in CU Denver’s Student Steel Bridge Competition efforts, where students apply engineering concepts to a physical design challenge while navigating technical constraints, coordinating responsibilities and solving problems together.

“Experiences like these teach you things that are difficult to learn from a textbook: how to work through disagreements, communicate ideas, manage deadlines, solve unexpected problems, and trust the people working beside you.”

Together, these experiences are helping Medina Martinez build the technical, collaborative and leadership skills he will carry into his engineering career.

ASCE Day: Celebrating Connections That Shape Careers

For Medina Martinez, ASCE Day celebrates the professional community that helps students grow into engineers.

“To me, ASCE Day represents connection,” he said. “It connects students to professionals, universities to industry, younger engineers to experienced engineers, and ultimately our profession to the communities we serve.”

He hopes practicing engineers recognize the impact their encouragement can have on students beginning their careers.

“A conversation that may feel ordinary to an experienced engineer can completely change a student’s perspective,” he said. “Sometimes all it takes is one engineer taking the time to speak with you, encourage you, or tell you about an opportunity for you to begin imagining yourself in that position someday.”

Looking ahead, Medina Martinez hopes to offer that same encouragement to future engineers.

“Eventually, I want to become the kind of engineer who not only contributes technically to meaningful projects but also becomes someone younger engineers and students can approach for guidance,” he says. “One day, I hope I can give another student the same kind of encouragement and opportunity that so many professionals have given me through ASCE.”

His advice to students considering ASCE or another campus organization brings his experience full circle.

“Show up. You do not need to know anyone. You do not need to be the smartest person in the room. You do not need to already know exactly what area of civil engineering you want to pursue. And you certainly do not need to feel completely confident.”

For Medina Martinez, that first step created a community, opened professional doors and helped him recognize his place in engineering.

“I hope students walk away realizing that they do not have to wait until graduation to become part of the engineering community. They are already part of it.”

Find your community. Build your future.

Explore civil engineering at CU Denver and discover how student organizations, engineering competitions and industry connections help students build the experience, relationships and confidence to succeed beyond graduation.