Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - University of Wisconsin-Platteville senior Rayelle Miller is graduating this December, but she feels like she's leaving home all over again.

"This campus has become my home. The people have become my family and graduation means I have to leave my family," Miller said.

Miller, the daughter of Tom and Annette Miller of Fillmore, has been selected as one of this semester's Super Seniors and will receive a lifetime membership in the UWP Alumni Association.

She will graduate this December with a degree in mechanical engineering, but for a would-be engineer, Miller has sometimes taken the road less traveled. She wasn't afraid to take courses outside of her field of study, and felt she gained a lot from taking art classes.

"If you're interested in something, take a course," Miller said. "It could be something that helps you later. It might be that spark that can get the whole fire going."

Those classes combined with her experiences working at the UWP Children's Center helped her determine her career goal: to become a toy designer.

"I've always liked to take things apart," said Miller, who remembers disassembling McDonald's toys and pencil sharpeners in her youth. "I've always wondered what makes things work."

She said the turning point was when she did an internship at Huffy Sports, where they make basketball systems. Miller then realized that doing toy product design was a way to sate her interest in engineering and in helping children.

"This is a way to put them all together," she said.

While at UWP, she said the Women in Engineering Program was a "big support system." In addition to Tammy Salmon-Stevens, director of the Women in Engineering Program, two students who have since graduated, Lisa Dragich and Laurie Gluenzer, went out of their way to help Miller.

"I met them at a luncheon before I came to the university. They helped to push me," Miller said. "The Women in Engineering Program-it's something I've continued with. They support you and try to do anything they can do to help you. The last couple years I've been a mentor."

In addition to her studies, Miller was involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Circle K volunteer organization. She volunteered to work with children and the elderly and also taught Sunday school for five years.

"I want to make a difference in the world. If you can make a difference in one person's life, it's worth it," Miller said. "A child playing with a toy I designed-it'll just be the greatest feeling ever."