But Hannah did know that Tech was her first choice. She’d visited campus when she was young, and it had always held a special place in her heart. She was vaguely interested in medical engineering because of her father’s work, but it never felt like a certainty.

Things changed for Hannah after a high school soccer game. She became extremely short of breath, and her heart rate was over 200 beats per minute. A cardiologist confirmed that there was a problem, and Hannah was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition involving an extra electrical pathway in the heart.

The doctor performed a cardiac ablation procedure to correct the rhythm problems with her heart. During the process, Hannah found herself intrigued.

“I was just really fascinated by everything,” she said. “More than being scary, it was actually pretty cool.”

At Tech, while attending a scholarship banquet, Hannah met a professional with expertise in mapping the heart during the very same procedure that helped her. This chance encounter convinced Hannah to choose biomedical engineering.

Five years later, Hannah is a proud Georgia Tech graduate working at Abbott Laboratories, a healthcare and medical device company based in Illinois, with several locations in metro Atlanta.

“Now I am able to work in a job where I can help heal hearts the same way mine was healed.”