Alumnus Profile: Liam Harkins – Growing as a Catholic Engineer

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed engineering. In grade school, I taught myself coding and played around with small circuit boards.

When I transferred into Seton Home Study School during seventh grade, I was able to challenge myself in mathematics and the sciences. Since the education was more self-paced, if there was a math concept or another topic that I wanted to learn more about, I could really focus on it. Now, I’m a freshman studying mechanical engineering at Franciscan University of Steubenville!

Strong Community

Franciscan has always been part of my family. My parents are both alumni, as are many of my aunts and uncles. I knew college was the time in your life that could make or break your faith. I wanted to go to a solid Catholic university where I would have a community to build me up in my faith, and Franciscan has been that place for me.

My classmates and professors all genuinely care about each other and want you to succeed. Especially since the Engineering Program is new, the community of engineering students is awesome. It’s not a program where you’re just a number or a face. I know almost everyone in engineering, and we’ll get together to do homework, study for a test, or build something. For a class this past semester, we built a mini quadcopter drone. A friend and I also made a Rubik’s Cube-solving robot from scratch. I even helped found our new Engineering Club.

I also love that there are chapels across campus, including one in each residence hall and in the new Christ the Teacher Hall, where the Engineering Department is located. You don’t often see that in other places, and always having a chapel nearby helps you grow in prayer.

Ready for the Future

Seton’s academics prepared me well for college. I learned a lot in the English and literature classes, which helps with the writing I have to do now. I also took a very comprehensive calculus class in high school, so when I was doing calculus in my Franciscan classes, I knew the concepts well and was used to performing hard calculations.

I’m currently in the Air Force ROTC Program, so I plan to use my engineering skills in the Air Force and to work hands-on in the engineering field. But right now, I’m looking forward to making the most out of my next three years here at Franciscan.