Stevens Admissions: Ellyn's Blog

Farewell Blog

To my faithful readers,

This is the end of an era... my FINAL blog!  I would never have guessed 4 years ago that I would be in the position I am in now.  It's crazy to look back at my blog from my freshman year and see all the amazing things I have done... a trip to Argentina with the field hockey team, summer internships with L'Oreal, leadership positions / involvement in various organizations on campus, joining a sorority, doing the dual degree program through Scholars to get my Bachelors / Masters, running a half marathon, and so many more!

I've been given so many opportunities here that I don't think I would have gotten at any other school.  Further, I have learned so much about what it takes to be an engineer AND a leader by coming here.  The people at this school - both the students and faculty / administration - are truly phenomenal.

It's been a wild ride but I am ready to embark on the next chapter in my life: full-time employment!  My first rotation with L'Oreal in their management development program (a rotational leadership development program) will send me to Kentucky - it will be the first time I'm living outside of the great state of New Jersey!

I will miss Stevens a lot but I am looking forward to being an active alumni! :)

It's been wonderful blogging for the past 4 years and I hope you've all enjoyed my blog!

 

The one and only (well not really),
Ellyn

 

Done Done Done

Officially done with EVERYTHING and am just waiting for my last grade to be inputted onto Web for Students.  This is going to be my best GPA semester of my college career... go figure, save the best for last I guess!

Anyways, Senior Week begins today.  In addition to being on the Senior Gift Committee, I was also a part of the Senior Week committee, a week's worth of fun planned by the senior class for the senior class.  It's a last bit of fun before graduation where we can socialize with our classmates.  We've got a lot of cool events lined up!  More information can be found at http://www.stevens.edu/seniorweek/

:)

Some fun trips!

Being that the semester has wound down (OFFICIALLY HAVE NO MORE WORK TO DO - can you tell I'm excited!), I have had the time to go to a few cool places the past few days....

 

YANKEE STADIUM

It was awesome!  I went there on Tuesday night to watch the Yankees play the Kansas City Royals.  It was my first MLB game!

AND

 

THE BEACH

De-Stress Me Massage Night at Lore-El

The last Women's Programming event of the year was held at Lore El this evening.  It is the semesterly occurrance called "De-Stress Me Massage Night" and was (as usual) held in the Lore El Center.

This event is about taking the stress out of the lives of the women on campus.  For the women who sign up, they get a FREE 10 minute massage!  It's amazing!  I got my massage done and feel so great now!

Anyways, in order to help out with the event, the women of Lore-El volunteer to take attendance at the event to make sure the women are going in to get their massages at the right time.  We also took it upon ourselves to provide the refreshments for the event (paid for by Women's Programming of course) but homemade with love from the women of Lore El.  I went shopping yesterday to pick up water, milk, cookie ingredients, and a platter of fruit.  One of the residents Molly and I spent time today baking for the event! We made snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and funfetti cookies for the women to enjoy while they waited.

The event was a huge success as usual!  It truly was a night of de-stressing massages and delicious food!

Happy Mother's Day & An E8 Championship

Yesterday was Mother's Day and it was a wonderful day all around!

In the early afternoon before my mom came, my sister and I went to the Women's Lacrosse Empire 8 Championship and cheered them on as they won!  They earned an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row!  Congratulations to the entire team (and to all of the mothers of the girls on the team) - pretty good present if you ask me! :)

On top of that, my mom came up to Hoboken to spend the day.  Below is me and Lauren still decked out with our women's lacrosse jerseys (lent to us from our friends on the team, #6 Christine Smith and #9 Claire Eudy) taking a picture with our beautiful mother!

We spent the day just hanging out with our mom, gave her a present (a WebCam so she can Skype with us) and went out to dinner to celebrate at her favorite restaurant in Hoboken, Malibu Diner.

Note: The men's tennis team also won the conference yesterday, so they're going to the NCAA tournament too.  ALSO, the men's lacrosse team earned an at-large bid into NCAAs!  We have three teams repping Stevens in NCAA action this spring!

I Ate A Donut & I do nut cheat

The Stevens Honor Board just ran this very successful event called "I ATE A DONUT & I do nut cheat" which consisted of giving out donuts and coffee to students in the library who pledged to maintain and keep the Stevens Honor System in mind especially during Finals.

What is the honor system you may ask... well, it is one of the foundations of the institution.  All students sign the honor code before coming to Stevens and put it on all submissions.  The point of the code as stated by the website:

"The Honor System at Stevens was developed to fulfill two objectives. It insures that work submitted by students can be trusted as their own and was performed in an atmosphere of honesty and fair play. A secondary function of the Honor System is to promote, both on the campus and in the individual student, a sense of honor in preparation for the professional world.

In order for this Honor System to be effective, the continued support and cooperation of the student body, faculty, and administration is needed. In addition, the Honor System's governing body, the Honor Board, serves to ensure that the integrity of the system is upheld."

 

More information can be found at http://www.stevens.edu/honor

 

Below is a picture of the remnants of the food...

Student Leader Awards Brunch

Hello faithful readers!

This morning I was privileged to be invited to the Student Leadership Awards Brunch.  Held in the Bissinger Room on the fourth floor of the Howe Center, it was a very classy event aimed at recognizing the leadership of students and faculty on campus.  There were a number of awards given, some to recognize up-and-coming leaders (particular kudos to my residents in Lore-El that were honored), some to recognize distinguished student leaders, some to recognize leaders dedicated to volunteering, and some to recognize the tireless work that the staff and faculty do.
Note: All of the recipients were nominated by the student body.

It was an honor to be invited as part of Gear & Triangle and also because I was fortunate enough to receive an individual award as well, a Distinguished Leader Award.  I am thankful not only for the recognition but also because I got a sweet plaque too!

After four years of being an active student leader, an event like this is extremely rewarding and is a great way to end my collegiate career.  Although the recognition isn't why other students or I get involved, it is an honor to be recognized for the work we're doing on campus.  I hope that the initiatives that my fellow classmates and I have started continue in the future.

Student Elevator Pitch Competition

What is an elevator pitch?

"An elevator pitch is a short presentation made by an entrepreneur raising money for a venture. The term describes a pitch that?s short enough that it could be given during an elevator ride when the entrepreneur has the only chance to talk with a potential investor. Just as in the real Olympics, the investor judges hold up their scores and give points ranging from one to ten in the categories of quality of presentation and business fundability."

 

Yesterday I represented the SmartPedals team and pitched our system to a panel of judges and potential investors.  I practiced my 2 minute pitch more times that I want to admit in order to prepare for my turn at the microphone in front of a large audience of people.

There was a number of great competitors including my sister who gave the pitch for her team!  Truthbetold, I was tempted to make a joke about it when I went up to the podium but decided against it :-p

Anyways, all of the work paid off.  When I got up there, my pitch was engrained in my brain and just came out!  I was fortunate enough to get one of the highest scores on the quality of my pitch!  Unfortunately, like I said, the quality of the competition was high and we did not take home the top honors, but our idea fared very well.

More information about the competition can be found here
http://www.stevens.edu/entrepreneurship/research-day/elevator_pitch.html

Senior Design Expo

Yesterday was one of the big days!

It was what my senior design team has been working towards since the beginning of the year... the Senior Design Expo.  It was an opportunity for my group and all of the other senior design teams to showcase their projects to campus and anyone who came.

It was an awesome event and went well!  Here are some pictures of my team's table!

Location, Location, Location

Location: One of the many things I did not take into account when I was looking at schools but ultimately realized is an extremely important factor to consider.

Luckily for me, I think that Stevens has one of the best locations that a student could ask for and here's why!

1) Access into NYC - Getting into the city is as easy as taking a bus or the Path.  Also, from the freshman residence halls, we have a fantastic view of NYC (and in particular, the Empire State Building).  There are so many things to do like going to a museum, seeing a broadway show, going to Central Park, and so many more!

2) Carlo's Bakery - Being a Stevens / Hoboken resident lets us CUT TO THE FRONT OF THE LONG LINE and get priority treatment to order one of their baked goods

3) Sports - We are near Madison Square Garden in NYC, Yankees and Mets Stadiums in NYC, the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, the Red Bulls Stadium, and the Prudential Center in Newark.

4) Home - Stevens is an hour by car and 2.5 hours by public transportation home.  It is the perfect distance to have my freedom at school but can still go home easily and see my family.