When Vince Salvador talks about his home in Saipan, he details the clear blue Pacific Ocean waters, perfect warm weather, delicious home-cooked Filipino food, and a tight-knit island community that is always around for support and friendship. Naturally, moving to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University felt different – a 15-hour time difference from family, snowy winters and a challenge to find a real competitor to his mom’s cooking were just a few of his significant adjustments.
Now Salvador sees Marquette as a special second home, crediting the university’s community feel and caring faculty and staff for helping him find his footing and succeed as a civil engineering student over 7,000 miles from home.
Growing up in Saipan, a 14-mile-long island in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, Salvador discovered his engineering passion by following his dad to local construction sites and watching new buildings gradually appear in their community.
“I fell in love with the concept of building something from scratch,” Salvador says. “Back then I didn’t know about the engineering side of it yet, but I thought it was cool, like building with Legos. That is what inspired me to become a civil engineer. The opportunity to make something happen from nothing.”
Salvador first discovered Marquette during his college search after it was recommended by an aunt living in Chicago. Wisconsin was mostly unfamiliar to him, but Marquette’s Catholic values that echoed his high school experience and a proximity to relatives encouraged him to begin a new adventure in Milwaukee.
Salvador initially enrolled at Marquette outside the Opus College of Engineering, but he was determined to transfer into engineering as soon as possible. He found himself gravitating to Engineering Hall and even applied for a student employee position in Marquette’s Engineering Materials and Structural Testing Lab (EMSTL) during his first year. Dave Newman, director of operations for the Opus College of Engineering, was impressed by Salvador’s determination, but could not hire him for the role as a non-engineering student.
Newman offered Salvador a deal, though: complete the course work he needed to transfer to engineering, and the job would be waiting for him.
“Vince has earned everything he’s received through hard work,” Newman says. “He’s been a great addition to the EMSTL and will continue on as a graduate student.”
Now a graduating senior, Salvador will receive his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, finish his sixth semester as a student employee in the Opus College’s EMSTL and Discovery Learning Labs, and prepare to begin his master’s in civil engineering at Marquette in August. He credits his hands-on roles in the Opus College for unlocking his potential as an engineer early on.
“I got to focus on more real-life applications beyond the theoretical concepts, which is really important in civil engineering. Just because you like your design with a big steel plate, you can’t always lift it. You can’t forget to design the correct bolt holes to actually carry it with a crane,” Salvador says. “I definitely don’t think I’d be in this position right now if I wasn’t working for Dave.”
Salvador’s work in the Opus College has made him one of the most familiar faces in Engineering Hall. In the EMSTL, he supports his fellow students as they learn civil engineering concepts in hands-on lab courses and also works alongside faculty to conduct research projects. In the Discovery Learning Labs, Salvador is a peer expert who mentors students as they learn new skills in the makerspace and machine shop.
“Vince took to working in our spaces like he was always meant to be there,” Newman says. “I think it’s his desire to be an engineer and a true servant leader that makes him so adaptable. And he’s such a genuinely nice person. Everybody loves Vince.”
These experiences in Engineering Hall have also helped Salvador open doors for his career and develop his expertise in a field he’s dreamed of since childhood. Away from campus, Salvador has completed multiple internships with Excel Engineering, an architectural and engineering firm located in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Encouraged by his mentors at Excel Engineering, Salvador recently earned second place in a nationwide student competition on cold-formed steel design organized by the Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI), showcasing his skills on a national level.
As Salvador builds his career and looks ahead to earning his master’s degree at Marquette, he continues to carry with him his lessons and experiences from home.
“My advice for students studying far from home: stick to your roots. I try not to lose any of my culture and home. What I’ve learned from Saipan is different from what I’ve learned in Milwaukee. And they’re both important in a lot of different ways.”
