Ampeh, Arielle

Arielle Ampeh, a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering, was selected as a delegate to the National 4-H Congress and the next year was chosen as the first Virginian to serve as a youth member of the National 4-H Congress Design.  This group plans and manages the National 4-H Congress attended by over 900 delegates, Extension staff, volunteers, partner representatives, exhibitors and other friends of 4-H. Arielle was awarded the Connie Collier 4-H Scholarship for her outstanding work in horse programming and other 4-H achievements. Arielle has gotten top awards at Virginia State 4-H Horse and Dog Show championships and served in many 4H positions, ranging from State Dog Council member to County Fair Board President. 

Arielle completed the Student Transition Engineering Program (STEP) while settling into campus life and discovered that Engineering is the right field for her to pursue at Tech.  One reason Arielle was attracted to Tech is her involvement with fund raising for the American Cancer Society (ACS).  Her high school, TJHSST, has the only Relay for Life event completely run by high school students. Her senior year, she and 520 participants raised $66,787 for Relay for Life by selling homemade baked goods and silicone wristbands.  Virginia Tech Relay for Life has been the #1 Collegiate Relay for Life in the World for the last seven years!

Over her summers, Arielle interned with CEED to organize and run several of Tech’s pre-college summer camps. These included Imagination, BLAST, Tech Girls, and CTech2. She learned a lot about the outreach programs offered to encourage youth to consider engineering in their future.

At VA Tech, Arielle loves the rural mountain atmosphere. In 2014, Arielle served as a youth panelist at the internationally live-streamed Safer Internet Day with U.S. Senator Charles Schumer.  Safer Internet Day (SID) is organized by Insafe in February of each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world. As an Engineer, Arielle hopes to find more ways to promote healthy living in the community and the world.