Stevens Admissions: Regina

Home is where the classes are (part 2)

I mentioned in my last post, the time to think of clever things to do with your schedule is generally not your first semester.  But once you get into the rhythm of things there's plenty of options.

One of these options is to select a minor.  A minor is a collection of classes (generally about 6) that go beyond the classes dictated by your major.  Minors are designed to give you a well-rounded glimpse into an area of study that, while interesting, is not what you want to devote your college education to.  

Minors are also used to supplement your major, making you a more well-rounded <insert your major here> during college and when you begin your professional career.  For example, several engineers I know are minoring in Mathematics because Math was the thing that attracted them to technical disciplines in the first place.  Another new, very popular, minor is Green Engineering.  This is a minor that gives the students an understanding of the way that their engineering decisions have very real impacts upon the environment and I've heard many positive things about it.  Another approach to selecting a minor is to choose something totally non-technical.  The College of Arts and Letters is very popular with minors, including a Pre-Law minor (which I'm currently pursuing) which can present a nice public policy dimension to an education in engineering design.

Of course, minors are not the only way to diversify (and complicate) the ritual of selecting classes.

Home is where the classes are (part 1)

I was very homesick for Stevens last night.  This was intense homesickness, where you look frantically around your rented bedroom for some flash of Stevens' red or gray or even for Attila The Duck's maniac eyes.  What caused this sudden longing for the Old Stone Mill?

Class registration.

College is important because of extracurriculars, friends, scenery, atmosphere and distance to home.  Yet at some point you need to think about actually getting your butt into a seat at Stevens and taking classes.  I don't think there is anything that I appreciate more about the Institute than the trouble-free way that we register for classes.  This blog posting and the 2 following it are going to talk in-depth about registering for classes.  I'll try to answer some of the questions I know I had as a freshman about how registration works, include a bunch of really helpful links if you'd like to learn more about the process, then try to explain why this time of year brings back such fond memories for me.

Scubie-Doobie-Doo!

My picture from my Open Water Scuba certification exam.  Me, with floating hair:

The Class of 2010 (continued)

Continued from yesterday's post.  My second memory from Freshman Parents' Weekend happened during the Saturday of that week, when my parents were introduced to Co-Op.

I've written extensively about my participation in the Cooperative Education Program and the fantastic experiences that have resulted from it.  Co-op is the reason I am currently in a dream job in sunny Florida in the aerospace industry.  Some students enter Stevens knowing they want co-op, even selecting Stevens specifically for the program.  I was not one of these students.  

I think I was too busy drooling over aspects of Stevens such as the Scholars Program to pay attention to co-op during the admission process.  But two weeks into the semester I was dragged to the information meetings by my roommate and was hooked.  During Freshman Parents Weekend the co-op department held a meeting where they pitched the program for parents, like mine, who didn't understand why their child suddenly wanted to spend 5 years in school.

During that meeting, when my parents were swallowing the same co-op hook I was caught on, I noticed that my mother was wearing one of the pins she had been given at the start of the weekend.  It was a round, white pin with Stevens' red lettering that said: Class of 2010 Parent.  I realized that, with every convincing word out of the co-op director's mouth, my parents were moving further away from the Class of 2010 Parents.  They are class of 2011 parents, I am a class of 2011 student.

Last week there was an article about the job offers for 2010 students (yes, Stevens students get their job offers as early as a full year before graduation).  I was startled that I knew one of the profiled students very well and it made me think about when the high school graduating class of 2006 split into the college classes of 2010 and 2011.  It made me a little sad that I will not be joining some of my friends in their graduation rituals, though I would not trade my co-op friends or my job for all the senior events in the world.

So, good luck to my friends who are moving on and I hope the rest of your final year goes smoothly!

The Class of 2010

During your first semester at Stevens, the last week of September, the Institute holds "Freshman Parents Weekend."  I have a lot of fond memories from that weekend, two of which really stand out.

The first one has to do with "Introduction to Programing," a required class for all engineering students that gave us a cursory understanding of the C++ coding system.  As long as anyone can remember, the class has been taught by Professor Tewksbury (who does not answer to any appellation besides "Tewks," to the delight of all the freshmen).  The Friday of Freshman Parents weekend, I had Tewk's class and my mother shadowed me to the lecture. 

Apparently, we were farther ahead in the cirriculum than we were supposed to be for that week, so Tewks stood up in the front of the lecture hall and announced that he felt he should be teaching us important things besides simply programing.  He decided that we were, instead of hearing about C++, going to spend that afternoon discussing cars.  Yes, cars.  Tewks launched into a 50 minute lecture about classic cars, new cars, car engines and colors and designs.  He drew diagrams, reminisced about the vehicles he drove during his life, and polled the class about our favorite ones.

Halfway through the delightful and unexpected discussion, Tewks paused in his enthusiastic delivery and peered out into the classroom.  There were many parents scattered throughout the audience and their salt and pepper hair implied that they were not freshman engineering students.

"What's this?  Why are there so many visitors today?"

Someone in the front row hurriedly explained the presence of the parents.  There was a long pause as Tewks contemplated it and I was worried that the lecture would switch back to programing.

Instead, he grinned at the students and their parents and exclaimed, "then there must be some of you out there that remember these cars!"  The discussion continued, students, parents, and professor, and I was very proud that all of the parents had witnessed such a genuine "Stevens" moment where the flow of information in the classroom was so free and excited.

That was a longer story then I remembered, check back tomorrow for some context to that tale!

Hello again

Hi, folks!  I know that was an unexpectedly long delay between posts, but the woman I'm living with down here moved to a new building (and, so, I moved with her) and internet has not been available until this past weekend.

I spent the weekend becoming a certified Scuba diver!  I can now go down to 60 feet.  It was awesome, I was an arm's length from this great big, lime green Moray Eel, swimming with tropical fish and watching sting ray drift by...totally totally awesome....

Anyway, so I'm back with my internet and prepping some new Stevens related posts, so stand by!

Generation Space

I love my job.

I love it, I love it, I love it.  

The place I work is very focused on aerospace, providing me with not only technical knowledge but experience in a new workforce culture.  I had a conversation the other day with some people about how to draw "younger" people into the aerospace industry.  The context of the conversation was focused specifically on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  During the 1960s, the agency underwent a period of unparalleled growth to achieve then-president Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by 1970.

They brought on a lot of young engineers and technicians who are now full of experience but decidedly less young.  Transition of new employees is a challenge for any workforce but when you think about the field of aerospace and aeronautics (and recall my opinion that engineering training is an apprenticeship) it is vitally important that enough young people enter the field to transition knowlege and experience.  I came across the following link to a presentation that seems to have been given by young NASA employees, addressing the challenges that the agency faces in bringing new talent aboard.

It's very relevant to all of us college aged folk.  We take some parts of our culture (cable TV, internet) for granted because they are fundemental tools that have been around for most of our lives.  But if we are going to help companies transition us successfully into their workforce, I think we need to be aware of what seperates a 1969 engineer from a 2009 one.  I think there's more to it than just sliderules.

Safety

I am a huge fan of the Wayne Hale blog.  Hale is a NASA employee who discusses issues peripherally and integrally connected to the space industry and culture.  As a co-op in a safety department I’m already used to opinions (largely negative) about the vigilance that our department must maintain to keep the company's reputation, personnel, hardware, and future from being damaged through safety oversights.

What does this have to do with Stevens?  Most people want to be in the glamorous professions, the rocket scientist or the astronaut corps, and some people see things like safety procedures just as something that slows them down, not something that helps them.  Wherever your schooling or career takes you, be nice to the safety folks, okay?

Done proselytizing on behalf of the green hardhats now (safety people generally wear green hardhats on construction sites).  Go read Hale’s post that got me thinking about all this, and check out some of his other posts too.  A highlight:

“It is easy to accuse someone of being risk averse when you personally don’t have to make tough decisions with real consequences.  At NASA we make hard decisions every day and the whole world gets to watch and see if we got it right.”

http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/blog/waynehalesblog/posts/post_1251922430985.html

The Internet is for...Work?

First of all, check out the latest Office of Undergraduate Admissions Viewbook and not only because I'm there on page 13 (though that is, of course, a fantastic reason to check it out!)

No, you should check it out because it was part of an important lesson I learned today about beginning my career in the 21st century: Google plays a very important role in what information your co-workers know about you.

On the Mend

Glad to say the sunburn is recovering and I'm getting into a routine down here.  I plan on posting more regularly now that I have a pattern.  I was wondering what kind of stuff you readers would like to see?  I haven't gotten any questions in a few weeks, how about that?