EDINBURG – Women are increasingly becoming the majority on college campuses. Some still face challenges when pursuing a traditional male-dominated major.

Lauren Hayloch is a sophomore student at Texas A&M University who is a trailblazer beating the odds.

“So I’m not just doing this for myself, I’m trying to do this for others who have the same problem as I do,” said Hayloch. “I’m going into electrical engineering, which the subset of electrical engineering is actually even less common for a woman than general engineering.”

According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, in 2012 less than 11.2 percent of women accounted for bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering.

For Hayloch, contributing to the 11 percent was easy.

“I took digital electronics my sophomore year in high school and I just fell in love with it,” she said.

Passion fuels her motivation to work in a typically male-dominated field.

“It’s always like I have to prove myself; and I think that maybe some girls don’t want to constantly have to do that their entire life to prove themselves and prove their intelligence and have to continue proving that their degree is worth something after they get the degree,” Hayloch explained.

Hayloch met with Gear-Up graduates to give advice in the transition to college.

She used this platform to address the females in the room. To let them know they aren’t alone and shouldn’t shy away from a fulfilling career because of obstacles along the way.

“If the guys can do it, you can do it too,” said Hayloch.

She says obstacles are a part of growth experienced in transition and college isn’t the exception.