An 11-year-old Ames girl has high hopes of becoming a civil engineer and her winning essay shows it.

Katie Gidlewski, a fifth-grade student at Meeker Elementary School in Ames, won first place in the “What I Can Do as an Engineer” essay competition, sponsored by Iowa State’s College of Engineering and the student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.

Gidlewski wrote about her favorite nursery rhymes and how she could help the characters by being a civil engineer. She told of how she could help Humpty Dumpty from falling off the wall by making “certain that Humpty has a wall that won’t let him fall.”

She also wrote about London Bridge falling down. “If London Bridge is falling down, I’d like to fix it if I work with bridges when I’m a civil engineer,” Gidlewski wrote.

Gidlewski became interested in engineering after attending engineering events.

“I’m in girl scouts and we went to a few engineering events,” Gidlewski said. “My parents also have a couple of friends who are engineers.”

Gidlewski’s parents and friends were thrilled about her win.

“They were all pretty proud,” Gidlewski said. “They thought I did a good job on it.

“I’d like to be a civil engineer and make bridges, roads, water tunnels and buildings,” Gidlewski said. “I also want to decide what material would be used for roads, cement or gravel.”

Gidlewski received $50, a SWE t-shirt, and a framed certificate for her winning essay.

A panel of four judges from SWE and the engineering faculty picked Gidlewski’s essay based on creativity, technical style, realistic goals and overall appeal, said Kristi Rude, the external guidance coordinator for SWE.

Rude said there were 12 essays entered in the contest from fourth, fifth and sixth graders all over Iowa.

“A lot of the students wrote about cleaning the environment and about medical technology,” Rude said. “Our goal was to make students aware of engineering as a career.”

Rude said if children at this age know about engineering, they will take a bigger interest in their science and math classes.

“It makes them have a goal to work toward,” Rude said.