Senior Leah Tipple will put her mechanical engineering degree with a minor in business administration to the test as she starts a co-op job with Marathon.
Rocket Spotlight on ... Leah Tipple
6/5/2024 12:10:00 PM | Softball
On her decision to play Division I softball, growing up on a farm, and preparing for her career as an engineer
Leah Tipple was a four-year catcher on the Toledo softball team and ended her collegiate career by playing in her first Mid-American Conference Tournament last month. She graduated on May 4 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in business administration and will begin a co-op job with Marathon this month in Illinois.
On how she became interested in engineering
I grew up on a farm and my dad is a mechanical engineer. On the farm, you have equipment that breaks down and I always found it intriguing to fix the equipment and work out how to solve a problem. Those problems have always triggered my problem-solving skills.
On growing up on a farm
A misconception about living on a farm is, that we had to get up at 5:00 a.m. and do this or that. We get up earlier than most, at 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m., but not the crack of dawn. When we had chickens, we did have the rooster crowing at the crack of dawn but did not need to be moving that early. I live on a smaller farm. Some of the bigger farms need to harvest year-round and work almost 23 hours a day and what not, but we don't have that kind of land or do that type of farming so it's more or less peaceful.
We used to have chickens when I was younger that I showed at 4-H fairs. We have beef cattle, so we let them pastor graze. We'll have to move them and treat them but for the most part, they are just on their own.
On her introduction to softball
I started with soccer, T-ball, and basketball. My dad had my sister Katie and me in different sports to help us find our niche where we would excel and like the most. We were always active kids. I remember being in a rec league and I would go from a soccer game one week, to a T-ball game next, then basketball practice.
On her decision to pursue Division I softball and ending up at Toledo
Playing Division I softball was always something that I thought about and my junior year solidified for me that I wanted to go D-I to play softball. My travel ball coach was very interactive with us in the recruiting process. He told us we needed to send about a minimum of 10 emails a week to different colleges and different coaches just to get our names out there. It could be the biggest school or the smallest school, it just needed to be 10 emails. When I finally started zeroing in on schools that had mechanical engineering or were good engineering schools that also had softball programs that I could see myself fitting into, it came down to going to camps and finding coaches and teammates that I liked and the culture that I liked. I visited Toledo and came to a couple of camps. I liked the campus and the girls. They had a good engineering program that I could see myself fitting into and here we are.
On her senior year capstone project
We built a vertical axis wind turbine out of 55-gallon oil drones and plywood. I thought that was super interesting. I'm not going to lie, I had doubts in my mind that we were not going to get it done and it was going to be over budget. But then we got it put together and got it moving, it was cool to see. It was built off-campus and then presented at our senior design expo. After that, we took it halfway apart and brought half of it to school to set up outside so that we could see it.
On the Fundamentals of Engineering ExamÂ
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam is an exam that covers everything that you have learned in undergrad. I was in a class that helped me prepare for the FE exam and was recommended to study at least eight hours a week at a minimum. The exam took about six hours and will help me further my career. The FE leads to your Practice of Engineering (PE) exam, which grants you a PE license, where you can sign your name on drawings and everything else and help further your career. From the FE you have to work under a registered engineer for four years and then you can take your PE Exam.
On beginning her engineering careerÂ
I'm co-oping at Marathon in Wood River, Illinois at one of their terminal sites. I will lead projects on-site and work with different engineers to bring them onsite if there needs to be repairs or work done on-site. I will work with them and learn more about the company.
On her advice for incoming Rockets
It's a lot of hard work and time management skills. For me, it was making a weekly planner of what I needed to accomplish each day. Have fun with it because it goes by so fast. Looking back on it now, I thought it was going to take forever but now I'm like, where did the time go? I remember living in the dorms and now I have an apartment and am now moving out. Enjoy the time you have while it lasts and have fun. It's a sport, do it for fun.
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On how she became interested in engineering
I grew up on a farm and my dad is a mechanical engineer. On the farm, you have equipment that breaks down and I always found it intriguing to fix the equipment and work out how to solve a problem. Those problems have always triggered my problem-solving skills.
On growing up on a farm
A misconception about living on a farm is, that we had to get up at 5:00 a.m. and do this or that. We get up earlier than most, at 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m., but not the crack of dawn. When we had chickens, we did have the rooster crowing at the crack of dawn but did not need to be moving that early. I live on a smaller farm. Some of the bigger farms need to harvest year-round and work almost 23 hours a day and what not, but we don't have that kind of land or do that type of farming so it's more or less peaceful.
We used to have chickens when I was younger that I showed at 4-H fairs. We have beef cattle, so we let them pastor graze. We'll have to move them and treat them but for the most part, they are just on their own.
On her introduction to softball
I started with soccer, T-ball, and basketball. My dad had my sister Katie and me in different sports to help us find our niche where we would excel and like the most. We were always active kids. I remember being in a rec league and I would go from a soccer game one week, to a T-ball game next, then basketball practice.
On her decision to pursue Division I softball and ending up at Toledo
Playing Division I softball was always something that I thought about and my junior year solidified for me that I wanted to go D-I to play softball. My travel ball coach was very interactive with us in the recruiting process. He told us we needed to send about a minimum of 10 emails a week to different colleges and different coaches just to get our names out there. It could be the biggest school or the smallest school, it just needed to be 10 emails. When I finally started zeroing in on schools that had mechanical engineering or were good engineering schools that also had softball programs that I could see myself fitting into, it came down to going to camps and finding coaches and teammates that I liked and the culture that I liked. I visited Toledo and came to a couple of camps. I liked the campus and the girls. They had a good engineering program that I could see myself fitting into and here we are.
On her senior year capstone project
We built a vertical axis wind turbine out of 55-gallon oil drones and plywood. I thought that was super interesting. I'm not going to lie, I had doubts in my mind that we were not going to get it done and it was going to be over budget. But then we got it put together and got it moving, it was cool to see. It was built off-campus and then presented at our senior design expo. After that, we took it halfway apart and brought half of it to school to set up outside so that we could see it.
On the Fundamentals of Engineering ExamÂ
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam is an exam that covers everything that you have learned in undergrad. I was in a class that helped me prepare for the FE exam and was recommended to study at least eight hours a week at a minimum. The exam took about six hours and will help me further my career. The FE leads to your Practice of Engineering (PE) exam, which grants you a PE license, where you can sign your name on drawings and everything else and help further your career. From the FE you have to work under a registered engineer for four years and then you can take your PE Exam.
On beginning her engineering careerÂ
I'm co-oping at Marathon in Wood River, Illinois at one of their terminal sites. I will lead projects on-site and work with different engineers to bring them onsite if there needs to be repairs or work done on-site. I will work with them and learn more about the company.
On her advice for incoming Rockets
It's a lot of hard work and time management skills. For me, it was making a weekly planner of what I needed to accomplish each day. Have fun with it because it goes by so fast. Looking back on it now, I thought it was going to take forever but now I'm like, where did the time go? I remember living in the dorms and now I have an apartment and am now moving out. Enjoy the time you have while it lasts and have fun. It's a sport, do it for fun.
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Players Mentioned
C
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