From student programming to circuit board programming, Kelly Wylie, ’25, a mechanical engineering technology major at Farmingdale State College (FSC), is a whiz.
What started as a friendly sibling rivalry with her older brother, Joseph Wylie, ’24, an FSC cybersecurity major, has transformed into Wylie’s successful college experience. Now Student Government Association (SGA) vice president, Sigma Delta Tau president, secretary of the RAM Motorsports Club, and a student assistant in the Office of Student Activities, Wylie is also president and founder of FSC’s popular Rambots (robotics) Club.
“My brother, he’s 16 months older than me,” said Wylie, who grew up in Seaford, New York. “I kind of followed a lot of things he did, because we were so close in age. We were a little bit competitive with each other—or at least I was,” she quipped.
Wylie’s “if he can do it, I can do it” mindset and determination would bring her to join several clubs through elementary, middle, and high school, including student government, which she immediately loved, and robotics, which she immediately didn’t.
“At my first meeting I remember very clearly sitting down and saying, ‘This is not for me.’ It just didn’t make sense in my head, and I didn’t think that I was going to like it,” she said. “But I stuck with it anyway, and soon I was like, ‘Oh, this is exactly what I love to do.’”
Engineering runs in Wylie’s family, with her grandfather, her father, and her mother working in locomotive engineering. “I definitely look up to my mom for succeeding in a male-dominated environment as an engineer,” she said. During an FSC open house visit, “I got to see one of the lab rooms in Lupton, and that’s when my mom knew I really wanted to go into engineering too, because she could tell how excited I was,” Wylie added.
Wylie has remained active both on and off campus, serving as a Rambassador campus tour guide and orientation leader for the Office of Admissions, organizing a wide variety of campus events, including student career development workshops, food donation efforts, and fundraising for local charities, and completing a summer internship with Zebra Technologies in Holtsville.
“Kelly epitomizes the essence of an FSC student, seamlessly being involved in activities with grace and purpose,” said Lukas Miedreich, FSC director of the Office of Student Activities. “True achievement is not just about excelling in one area but embracing the holistic experience of campus life. She is involved in all facets of campus life from SGA, to Greek Life, to student clubs and student employment.”
With her “full calendar,” Wylie lauds FSC for welcoming and encouraging her array of interests.
“The reason that I join all these clubs, and started a few, is because I want everyone to find their place where they just feel welcomed and supported,” she said. “I love Farmingdale because I feel like it gives me a lot of opportunities. I always say you can be as involved or uninvolved as you like, so I feel like it caters to a really diverse group of students. It’s mainly a commuter school, but there’s so many different ways to get involved. And I feel like we have really good resources, especially with our Office of Student Activities. I feel like everyone really wants to help you succeed.
“We have a really supportive environment at Farmingdale, especially for women in STEM,” she added.
After graduation, Wylie is gearing up to pursue a master’s degree in engineering management and would like to go into sales engineering or program management. No matter where she goes, Wylie plans to give back to her community.
“I need to be fulfilled and driven by something,” she said. “My mom actually said that to me the other day. She’s like, ‘You’re going to need to find a hobby where you’re giving back in some way.’ Because I feel like something’s missing without that. So, I’m sure wherever I go next, there’s a lot of opportunities to volunteer for different things that I’m really passionate about. I would love to be able to help out a good cause.”
