When I was in 8th grade, I was able to take a STEM based engineering class. It was the first time the class was offered at my school, and it was noticeable in several places throughout the year. We had several projects that didn’t necessarily have a specific end goal in mind. Oftentimes, we would ask the teachers for some guidance, and they did not have much to offer. It was very much a “make it up as we go” kind of thing for both the teachers and the students. I loved every minute of it. I loved working with groups of different kinds of people where you didn’t really know what to expect when it came to who you were working with. But in the end, my groups always gritted through all the bumps and problems, and came up with a final product we could both laugh and feel good about. In high school, we had those classes, I just didn’t ever have the time in my schedule to take them. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I was just involved in other things. So I was without that spark that I grew to enjoy in 8th grade. A direct result of this was that I was not sure about engineering for my future career. Thankfully I decided to try it out this year. My engineering fundamentals classes brought me back to 8th grade. I got to work with some really great people in my groups. These classes completely reassured me that engineering is what I want to do. 

I learned that people in my life, friends specifically, are going to come and go eventually. There are several people who I thought I was kinda close with, who I haven’t seen since a random Friday in march 2020. A few others that I’ve seen a few times since then. But it’s crazy. My circle has stayed about the same size, but it’s changed quite a bit. That’s something I took for granted in High School. Friendships were based around school, and now you actually have to make plans with old friends. I know that sounds silly, but no two high school kids have ever made plans to talk in the middle math class.  

Before coming to school, I believe I had a good amount of mental strength. Well I changed as a person this year in that I got even more mentally stronger. Something about sleeping 30 hours a week for a few weeks in a row really put in perspective what I thought was hard. I gained more grit this year. The ability to just really crack down, bite the bullet, and make things happen. 

I’ve never really been into polaroid pictures that much. Yet pinned on my bulletin board is a blurry-ish, cheesy picture of myself, carrying the Chicago bean on my shoulders. Feet spread wide. Chest held out. The confidence of a lion. Its my favorite picture of myself just because its so stupid, but so perfect. So yeah we drove down and toured Chicago for 2 days and it was so much fun. Not much of a plan. Just pent up energy and some free spirits roaming around the city. 

It may be obvious at this point, but next year, I am just looking forward to being more normal. I know I haven’t heard “lemme share my screen…” or “professor, you aren’t recording this” for the last time yet, but I’m counting the days till I do. I know most people have forgotten the bliss of 2019, but I haven’t, and while it may not be back next year, or the year after that, It will be back eventually, I’m sure of it. Almost. 

March was pretty good overall. In engineering fundamentals, I am learning how to 3D model things. I hated it at first, but as I have become slightly more fluent, I am learning to like it. It’s pretty satisfying looking back on the progress I have made. I used to struggle to navigate and use really any feature. But now I can quickly move around the software and use some of the tools. There is much more that I haven’t learned, but I’ve definitely made some progress. There are people on this earth who only have to sleep 2-3 hours per night. I learned that I am not one of them. I am not really sure why, but for the first half of the month, I did not sleep as much as I needed too. Nothing specific really happened to cause that, it just kinda happened. Anyways I am back to sleeping a healthier amount now, and it’s pretty cool. I guess you could say I struggled with sleeping enough this month. Maybe I had more work the first half of the month? Or maybe I just got used to all the classes in the second half?  Either way I’m not sure, but I am glad it’s fixed. I achieved surviving another month with the osu chem department. My grade is not thriving, but it’s hangin’ in there. We are still technically enrolled so I’m calling it a win. I actually really miss doing labs though. The two that I’ve done so far have been fun, I wish we could do more. Maybe that’s an unpopular opinion, but it is mine. I have one more and I am excited for it. I guess it has to do with gas collection. Looking forward to a great April to finish off the year.

Charles Meadows

The requirements for this job basically are centered around getting a masters degree in engineering. Obviously you have to have a bachelor’s degree in some kind of engineering. Then you have to have experience as an engineering intern which could be started before completion of the bachelors degree. 1-3 years job experience would come after or during the completion of a masters degree. I was under the impression that most people who go to grad school have it paid for by their company. So presumably, the 1-3 years of job experience would come with the masters degree. As long as I do not do anything too stupid while driving, the drivers liscence requirment should be possible. The biggest requirement is a masters degree in environmental engineering. 

Job to-do list

• Get good grades and be accepted into the college of engineering.
• Keep getting good grades and graduate with an engineering degree
• Apply for an engineering internship 
• Make connections with everyone and shake as many hands as possible (wishful thinking here. Perhaps bumping elbows is more reasonable)
• Look for and get into grad school. 
• Gather 3 years of work experience 
• Graduate with a masters degree in environmental engineering 

Getting good grades is the most important thing for me to do right now. No surprises here. My plan for getting good grades is to study hard and try to be successful. I use a planner to keep everything organized. I’ll ask for help when I need it, and I won’t fall behind. Then, in theory, I’ll be accepted to the school of engineering. From there I will continue to get good grades and apply for internships.  Assuming I graduate, I’ll then reach out to professors from schools that I’m interested in for grad school. These could be anywhere in the country, nothing is off limits. Then after I graduate, I can apply for the job.  I am interested in this job because the description sounds like something I would want to do as a career. I care about the environment, and I want to ensure that it is developed in a safe, sustainable way. There is much that can be done to reduce safety hazards in new architecture such as bridges, buildings, exc. I also want to make sure we are protecting the environment as much as possible when developing new land.

January was a pretty good start to the year for me. I actually learned something in calc! Crazy, I know. We are learning how to find the volume of weird 3D shapes on a graph using washer and shell method. Super fun and exciting. I know that that’s not very interesting to most people, and it’s not interesting to me, but I’m just happy that I’m still capable of learning new things about math. Last semester was not reassuring in that regard. That’s not to say that this information is easier to understand, but that I have a better way of learning it. I’m also in a class specifically for MATLAB  programming. The professor is super nice and I like him a lot. He mentioned one day that OSU has a “super computer” or several? I’m not sure the details but I guess that’s pretty cool. It doesn’t surprise me, but had he not mentioned it, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it much. Not sure what it’s used for though. learned that if I don’t run I never get hungry. And I really like to eat so I think I’m gonna start running again. I miss it. I don’t even know why I stopped, I kinda just did. Not quite a new year’s resolution, but definitely something I’m gonna try to do more. I am struggling to find the love I once had in Morrill pizza. Last semester I would order two every day they were available. Now they are just not the same. Like I think it’s all the same ingredients and everything, but now it just tastes bland. Now, I’m still going to order them whenever I can, but it’s not the same. Maybe I’ll see a therapist about it. Something I’ve achieved? Hmmmm. Feels like I haven’t done much of that recently. I mean I applied to the pre-environmental engineering major. I wouldn’t call that an achievement, but it’s certainly progress.

I adapted very well to college life. Every year in school I always found the end of summer break to be so sad. Going back to school was just about the worst thing in the world. That held true up till this year. I was pretty much ready to move on campus the minute I knew I was actually living on campus. That is not to say I did not want a summer break. But it is a testament to how excited I was. The end of last summer break was exciting. It was like Christmas Eve. That’s how excited I was. College turned out to be everything I had hoped for and more. I made some friends, did well enough in my clases, and I was sad to leave when I left. It’s amazing the amount of hate Morrill Tower gets. Granted, I  don’t know any better because I’ve only ever lived there, and were living at half capacity, but still. I didn’t hear too many positives from people when I told them that’s where I was living. I would not rather live anywhere else, and I mean that with my entire chest. The suite setup is sooo nice. There is always someone to talk to all the time. And you don’t feel like having to make plans to hang out; you just simply step out of your room and you’re hanging out. I’ve never, not once, said “hey you wanna chill in the common room tomorrow afternoon”? Yet I probably chilled in the common room every afternoon  with someone. Ok this one might be unpopular but I don’t care. I could eat Scotts Traditions every day for the rest of my life. It’s so good, or at least I think it is. I struggled with calc. Part of this was adapting to how college classes work. The other part is that calculus is exhausting. But I got through it and I am not looking back. Next semester I’m in calc 2. We will see how that goes. I guess my plan is to just take what I learned this semester and apply it to the whole semester (took me a good half semester to learn how to college). What have I achieved? Well i guess not much, but i made it out of physics 1250 alive, and for me that’s an achievement in itself. I am taking gen chem next semester. I’m pretty scared, not gonna lie. I took AP chem in high school and I did okay so I am hoping that extra bit of a head start will prove to be helpful. I also know more of how to study effectively now. All those things combined with the fact that most of the floor took it this semester, will hopefully get me through it. I’ll have help if i need it. So my goal for next semester is to get a solid B in chem. I know that’s ambitious, and frankly it might not age well, but I’m gonna do my best and see what happens.

The enr scholar that I interviewed was Britney Halpin. She graduated from OSU in 2013 with an environmental engineering degree. She is currently pursuing a phd at the Colorado school of mines. While at OSU she was in ENR scholars. She is not completely sure about the future, but she knows she wants to be a professor. I chose her because I would like to do environmental engineering and I am considering grad school.

I learned a lot from this interview. Arguably the most important of them is to keep an open mind regarding careers. As an engineer, there are going to be a vast number of different career opportunities that will come along the way. Her advice was to not have one specific “dream job” in mind. Great opportunities will come, and it is important to recognize them when they do. This is not settling for less, it is simply having an open mind on jobs. She also suggested that I gain as many skills as possible along the way. This will also add to how hirable I am outside school. These could be any skill from understanding a programming language to 3D modeling and design. I also had questions about grad school. She said “do not go unless it is funded”. This makes sense now, but i guess I had never really thought about it before. I asked what the benefits were of pursuing a phd after a masters, and her answer was enlightening. To teach at a university, you pretty much have to have a phd. On the research side, getting a phd just allows you to do more of your own research. She also explained how she decided on the Colorado school of mines. She emailed several professors across the country and asked about research they were doing. She was interested in the research they were doing at the Colorado school of mines and she liked the professors and campus. I learned a lot. 

 I will apply what I learned to my time at Ohio State by making connections whenever I can. She mentioned that a lot of getting accepted to grad school is about who you know,  so i guess the more people you know, the better. I will pick up skills whenever I can. Also I am going to try my best to keep a reasonable grade point average, since grad school is a thing i want to pursue

I’ve learned a lot in the last month, a good deal about myself and even more in class. In my engineering fundamentals class, I have started to learn how to use MATLAB. MATLAB is a program that allows you to write code. There is probably more that it can do, but I do not know much about it outside that class. Learning to code is getting easier, which is helping to keep me motivated, but it was really difficult at the beginning. It’s like learning a new language. There is not a lot of room for error as far as I can tell. Or maybe I am just not good at coding, yet. It is more likely that the latter is true. I’m sure in time I will learn and get better.

I learned that I really like climbing. I have gone with some friends a few times, and I’ve found that I really enjoy it. I like challenging myself and seeing how far can get. It is also cool to see my self getting better each time and it leaves me inspired every time. I climbed a few times with scouts, and I enjoyed it then, but that was like 5 years ago, and wasn’t a recurring thing. I think it’s a good test of physical and mental strength. Since September I have started to struggle with physics more. In high school I got good grades in physics so I thought I liked it a little bit, but now I’m here and I don’t like physics anymore. So that’s been a bit of a struggle/ adjustment. Luckily this is the only semester I have to take with it, but wow if I get through it that would be really good.

In terms of achievements: well… I have made it this far. Which I’m proud of I guess. It’s not much but when it constantly feels like you’re drowning in work, having a day to breath is an accomplishment. I also really enjoyed my alumni interview and I hope I can end up in a similar situation as the alum I spoke with.

I am currently in an engineering fundamentals class. I have learned a lot so far in this class, but perhaps the most useful has been how to use excel. I still don’t have a great understanding, but I do know that it can be a very powerful tool for a lot of things, not just in this class. I have talked to several career engineers who have all offered help with learning excel and I am grateful for them. I have a feeling I will use this tool often in my life. Kind of a game changer not gonna lie. I learned that I’m a pretty good procrastinator, but not good enough to do it now. It has not really been working out now. I’ll need to change eventually. I will likely start working ahead like tomorrow. I have struggled in calculus. I took it in highschool and I did okay. It is not the same now. Much faster pace, and it just seems harder this time. Luckily I have friends that are smart, so that’s good. They are good at helping. I will probably get tutoring soon. But I might also elect to take it as a pass/ fail. I haven’t completely made up my mind on that part. Also I am kinda thinking about not going into engineering. Kinda considering environmental science instead. That’s kinda stressing me out, but i’ll figure it out soon enough. In terms of what I’ve achieved thus far: I’m not super sure. I have passed all my covid tests so far. I am treading water in physics, which is hard, but I am surviving.