All the right moves

Architectural engineering senior finds parallels between engineering and dance

When she was choosing a college, Ashley Bradford was certain about two things. First, her interest in architecture and her love of math and science made architectural engineering the perfect major. Second, her lifelong passion for dance meant there had to be an opportunity to continue performing. "I knew that whatever school I went to, I had to keep dancing," explains the fifth-year senior. "I grew up doing pretty much everything—ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, lyrical—I was on the dance team in high school. It would just be weird not to dance!"

Happily, Penn State offered Ashley the chance to do both. "It's definitely one of the best architectural engineering programs out there. It was my first choice," she says. On top of that, she tried out for—and made—the Penn State dance team during the spring of her senior year in high school. She's been involved with the group ever since.

The team's schedule revolves around home football and basketball games. "It's a huge time commitment," states Ashley, adding that they learn anywhere from 40 to 50 routines during football season alone. "During our busiest time, it's about 25 hours a week. A football Saturday itself goes from 8 a.m. until the game's over. Before every game we dance outside the Student Book Store, then we go to the Bryce Jordan Center and dance at the TailGreat. And usually when we get to the stadium, we dance for the Mount Nittany Club before we go to the field."

At football games, the squad performs on the sidelines opposite the cheerleaders. In addition, they usually get to dance in the end zone during one timeout. Ashley vividly recalls the first time she performed at Beaver Stadium as a freshman. "I walked out onto that field and looked up into the stands. I love to have an audience and to have 107,000-plus people watching you—it was just incredible! There's nothing like it!"

Unlike most college dance teams, the Penn State squad does not have a coach. Team members choreograph their own dances, and everyone has an opportunity to step up and lead the team. "The seniors get first pick over what kind of dance they want to do and when they want to do it," Ashley explains. "We go down the line. We're used to running ourselves, taking directions from each other, and getting constructive criticism from our peers—even from the freshmen. You have to be able to take that and not let it affect you personally."

Ashley sees several parallels between dancing and engineering. "The dance team is a lot about precision, and so is engineering. If you're going to choreograph something, you need to figure out the formation of girls, how it moves, how it changes, and how it looks." she says. And although practice has always been a release for Ashley, a time to stop thinking about her demanding engineering classes and just have fun, she notes that dance, like engineering, is very technical. "People watch it and don't realize that there's a set technique for the way you do things. Every single move has a certain way you're supposed to hold your body, move your arm, or point your toe. You learn that as a kid in dance class, and you carry that technique with you and build on it."

As for her decision to major in architectural engineering—specifically, the structural engineering aspect—Ashley has never veered off the path. "I'm really interested in skyscrapers—super-tall buildings they call them," she states. "I've always been fascinated by them. They're such huge structures, and you think, 'How in the world does that stand up?'"

Ashley has augmented her work in the classroom with three summer internships. The first two were spent with CUH2A, Inc., an architectural engineering firm in Princeton, NJ. "They design large commercial buildings," she says. "I worked in their structural engineering department, and I got to learn a lot of the software they use for designing structures. For example, you build a computer model of a steel building, then you set up all the criteria. You hit 'run analysis' and it designs all the members and tells you what size everything needs to be."

Her third internship took her to Orlando, FL, where she worked for Walt Disney Imagineering. "I was brought in as a project management intern for attractions development," she explains.

"The project I was on was 'Toy Story Mania,'" she continues. "It's a new attraction being built in Disney's Hollywood Studios. You're made to feel like you're the size of a toy, and you ride through and get to play interactive games. As a project management intern, I didn't do the engineering for it—it had already been designed. But I helped with the oversight of the construction process, making sure that if there was a problem with any engineering system that was going in, we talked to the right people and got it solved. It was really great because I got to get the whole big picture of a construction project. And it was an amazing project—a theme park attraction!"

Ashley will graduate this May with an integrated bachelor and master of architectural engineering. As for her career plans, she'd like to work as a structural engineer for a large architectural engineering firm, eventually moving into an administrative leadership role. As for dancing, she hopes to continue that as well, noting that several of her former team members now dance for professional basketball teams while pursuing full-time careers.

Above all, Ashley is clear about one thing. "I love Penn State!" she says wistfully. "I'm really going to miss it."

—Jane Harris