~ Author: Mohammad (Mo) Attallah
I was not supposed to make it here, and that is exactly why I did.
I grew up in Chicago where it was not always easy to fit in. My parents are from Iraq, and they raised us with one mission: to build the life they never had. That meant sacrifice. That meant pressure. That meant I always felt a little different, like I was walking two tightropes at once. One for who I was expected to become and one for who I wanted to be.
Everything I chase, every step forward, is built on the sacrifices they made long before I ever had a choice
Nobody in my family was an engineer. I did not have a roadmap. I broke the mold.
At 23, I work full time for BMWC Constructors on complex mechanical projects at a large pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis. I am proud of the title. But that is not the whole story.
What most people do not see is the version of me that spent weekends, nights, and early mornings chasing something bigger. Something I have wanted since I was a kid: to be an author.
Ever since I was little, writing gave me clarity. I used to dream about seeing my name in print. But life gets busy. And technical writing, the kind that lands in journals, is not the kind of thing you just do. Still, one professor saw something in me when no one else did, and it lit a fire.
Graduating from Purdue University with more than a degree. I left with a dream I refused to let go of.
So, I started writing a research paper. I worked on it while managing a full-time career. I spent hours revising, citing, and defending my work against feedback that made me question everything. I submitted the paper. Got hit with major revisions. Twice. The pressure was real. The self-doubt was worse.
I made every revision they asked for and still got told it was not enough. I felt defeated. But I did not give up. I revised it again, submitted it to a new journal, and it is now under final review, just steps away from being published.
After work, this desk became my second shift. This is where my research came alive, one source and citation at a time.
I remember staring at my screen thinking maybe I was not meant to do this. Maybe this dream was not for me after all.
But I did not stop.
Because the truth is, the waiting, the rejection, and the silence did not kill the dream. It made it matter more. And it made me realize something I wish someone had told me at 18: admire your struggles. That is what makes this thing called life so beautiful.
This is the actual model I created using a 3D software for my HVAC research. A representation of months of testing, troubleshooting, and refining an idea I believed in.
I gave up a lot to get here, nights out, free weekends, even moments with family. But I do not regret it. Chasing this dream taught me how much I am capable of, and for that, I am grateful.
I am not here because things were easy. I am here because I kept going when they were not. Because I learned that your dreams are not supposed to come without resistance. They are supposed to transform you. This is not just a story. It is proof that I kept going, and maybe you can too.
