I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

There’s a test in reinforced concrete this afternoon. It won’t be easy. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Because challenges, says Afrah Khan, are opportunities. And that’s what she loves about Auburn — the opportunities. The opportunity to teach in different subjects, the opportunities to do research in world-class facilities.

“The new structures lab is amazing,” she said. “I’m getting my master’s in construction engineering but I’m taking supplemental classes in structural engineering because I want to challenge myself, and the opportunities Auburn provides for that are so impressive” — even more impressive than the former LSU soccer standout may have realized.

This morning, she went online and found a doctoral student in Turkey studying the same things — tensile stress, portlandite, all that stuff. She sent him some questions. He sent her a question, too.

“Oh, wow — you go to Auburn?”

“I guess it’s not really that shocking,” Khan said. “Auburn has a well-respected civil engineering program. Still, here’s a guy in Turkey impressed that I go to Auburn.”

After graduation, Khan wants to start her own construction company. Modular homes, she says — that’s the future.

“Modular homes let you add on, take away, and constantly change your house with what suits the progression of your life,” she said. “That’s the trend I want to focus on.”

She just has to pass that test first.