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Blue & Gold Hall of Fame Inductee: Elyse Nardozza ‘21

 

This spring, Engineering Senior Elyse Nardozza was one of twelve students inducted into the TCNJ Blue & Gold Hall of Fame for 2021. The Blue & Gold Hall of Fame showcases students who have consistently dedicated outstanding contributions to The College in an effort to create lasting impacts on its students.

Elyse has left her stamp at TCNJ by pursuing the goals she’s known ever since she was young: “I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world, even if that was one small step at a time.” She graduated as an Engineering Science – Management major with a concentration in Mechanical Engineering and her three years as Armstrong Scholar, an award granted to the student with the highest GPA in their engineering discipline.

In addition to her academic endeavors, Elyse created Bridging Understanding In Leading Design (BUILD), a STEM-learning workshop for 6-10th graders in Trenton utilizing hands-on collaborative competition to foster teamwork and creative problem-solving skills. BUILD is proud of the fact that it helps young teens develop skills in programs like MATLAB, a software used by millions of engineers and scientists. A critical part in making BUILD a success was the all-student volunteers recruited from Theta Tau, TCNJ’s first professional engineering fraternity that Elyse helped co-found. Through Theta Tau, which has grown from 11 to over 70 members in just one year, Elyse continued to support local communities with her two terms as Community Service Chair. As Service Chair, she volunteered at TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen) and built homes with Habitat for Humanity. She continued her relationship with Trenton through the Trenton Business Innovation Fellowship, working with a multidisciplinary group of students led by Dr. Michels of the Business School to propose an innovative data platform for the city of Trenton. If that’s not enough, she also found time to volunteer as an assistant coach for the Ewing Edge 14U Softball Team.

When she’s not supporting the communities around TCNJ, she builds and strengthens our own. Elyse served as a Team Engineering Ambassador, giving tours to accepted and prospective students while representing the student body on panels. Through Theta Tau, Elyse has also served two terms as Outreach Chair where she brought back Engineers Week, “a nationally recognized time to appreciate the diverse and well-educated future of the engineering community through understanding.” Engineers Week reached over 100 students and was nominated for Best New Program of the 2019-2020 school year by the Office of Student Involvement. Outside of academia, Elyse represented The College as senior captain and four-year member of the TCNJ softball team as well as vice president of the TCNJ Ski Club. Congratulations Elyse!

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