Engineering alum wraps project in Zambia, begins road design career
As a civil engineering major, Claudia Tolley ’22 found a job after graduation at STV Inc. in Harrisburg as a highway design engineer. After taking a traffic flow class at Messiah, she knew she wanted to work in road design.
“I help with improving intersections for major highways, exits and entrances of highways, and traffic flow.”
Her story begins, however, in the Collaboratory. After being grounded for two years because of COVID, the Collab teams were able to travel again this summer. In May, Tolley finally traveled to Zambia as the student project manager for the egg incubators project.
Partnering with the Brethren in Christ church there, she and the team spent two weeks staying in the mission outside Choma, where they were warmly welcomed by those who lived there.
“It was a two-minute walk to church in the village. They just immersed us into their welcoming community,” said Tolley. “It felt like we were so united. We were worshiping the same God beside them. That was so cool to see.”
Why is there a need to incubate eggs? Chicken is in high demand in the area, but it’s not an easily accessible food source.
“Most of the chickens just lay their eggs. They don’t brood the eggs well and leave them to fend for themselves,” explained Tolley.
By finding and placing the eggs in the incubators, however, people can ensure a larger production of food for themselves.
The team began the prototype at Messiah then built a final version in Zambia using local source materials. The experience became a huge part of her Messiah journey.
“I didn’t know about the Collab when I came to Messiah,” she said. “You connect your academics and apply it to real-life projects. It’s not just a capstone project. You can see the impact you’re making on people. It’s brought a great closure to my time at Messiah, applying knowledge to better serve people all around the world.”
— Anna Seip