An Engineering Dual Degree from Butler is propelling Alyssa Setnar ’16 to infinity and beyond.

In June, the Columbus, Ohio, native is heading to Los Angeles. She’s working for Millennium Space Systems, a satellite manufacturing company, as a spacecraft structural engineer.

“I’m going to be a part of the team that goes all the way from the napkin sketch to the proposal all the way to manufacturing,” she said. “I’m really excited to be a part of the entire process.”

That process started at Butler, when she found out she could get an engineering degree through the dual degree program with IUPUI.

“I got that big-school degree from Purdue at IUPUI’s campus, but I really fell in love with Butler’s small campus feel and the people that I met here,” she said. “I feel really lucky that I got both.”

Butler’s small campus feel allowed Setnar to explore all of her interests.

“The amount of things I’ve been able to get involved in here have really diversified me as a person,” she said. “Not only academic clubs but also through Greek life. I’ve met people I’d never had the opportunity to meet before and different volunteering opportunities unlike I’d ever seen anywhere else.”

Setnar got involved early on in her time at Butler. She arrived a week before Welcome Week her freshman year for the Ambassadors of Change program.

She was so impressed with and transformed by the program that she served as an AOC team leader for the next three years. It’s that passion for helping others that sets Butler students apart, Setnar said.

“Whenever I’m out, whether I’m volunteering, or at a restaurant, or just wearing a Butler shirt out while I’m shopping, the community recognizes that the people that are coming from Butler are really genuine and smart and interested in caring,” she said. “I feel like I have this connection with the community even though I’m not from here.”

And even though she’s headed west, Setnar is taking the Butler Way with her.

“I grew up in the Midwest, and there’s Midwest hospitality,” she said. “There’s a Butler hospitality that is unrivaled anywhere else.”