Alumni Spotlight - Francesco Rocha Trelles '21 



Francesco is a 2020 recipient of an Alumni Association Scholarship.

Francesco graduated with honors from CCBC with an Associate's degree in Engineering. This fall, he will begin his bachelor's degree in civil engineering with a full scholarship at the University of Maryland (UMD).

Francesco has always wanted to help people. When he decided to pursue civil engineering as a profession, one of the main reasons was that it would allow him to positively impact urban and rural communities. As a civil engineer, Francesco sees an excellent opportunity to connect with people and offer a better quality of life, designing, building, and maintaining infrastructures and systems that are part of our every day, like bridges, highways, and public buildings.

As a first-generation college student, Francesco found everything he needed at CCBC. Not only was it affordable, but CCBC made his transition into college life much easier and offered him valuable opportunities. With determination, Francesco attended CCBC to major in engineering, applied to the Honors Program, and graduated with honors to have guaranteed admission to the University of Maryland (UMD) to finish his degree in Civil Engineering.

While at CCBC, Francesco engaged in the humanities through the Mellon Scholars Program and leadership through Student Life and met great people he now calls friends. In addition to great friends, Professor Amy Wilson was one of the people at CCBC who influenced him the most, and it is thanks to her and the program that he learned everything he needed to know about the transfer process, scholarships, and research programs.

When asked what advice he would give students pursuing an engineering degree, Francesco said not to let the math and science requirements get in the way of getting involved in extracurricular activities—the more people you know, the easier it is to find help and resources you might need in the future.