The student organization I decided to look into this semester is Engineers Without Borders. The group works on the local and international level to solve issues involving problem solving. The international level is currently working in Gambia to provide irrigation and install a garden with fencing for a community. The local branch, which I am a part of, works on multiple local projects at once. The options for projects to join are installing bat houses, working on an irrigation system for an OSU garden, and fixing water collection cisterns for a nursery, which is the one I’m involved in. I went to this first meeting alone, but halfway through I noticed another student in the room was also in STEM. It was nice to see a familiar face in the room. It’s very beneficial to be a part of a student organization to build your network and meet people who are very different from you with the same interests. It’s also very important to join an organization that revolves around your planned major to see if it interests you.
The student leading the local branch of Engineers Without Borders seemed very professional and knowledgable about the group. I’ve only been to one meeting this far because I prioritize my school work over this organization, but I hope to learn to complete my day’s work ahead of time so that I can be a part of planning the project I’m involved in.
In the first local meeting, we split into three groups and begin research on how to best fix the problem we were working on. My group researched efficient water collection systems. This gave us information on the best ways to collect rainwater so we knew how to fix the problem with the cisterns at the nursery.
I found it very difficult to find a student organization I was interested in, even though I went to the student involvement fair and spent several hours at the event. It wasn’t as hard to find one I was interested in actually, but there were almost too many to choose from that I became overwhelmed. Which is a very good problem to have. I think there are so many organizations that I probably wouldn’t want or need to start a new club. But, if I was looking for something within my major that didn’t have a club tied to it I would have no problem trying to start a new club. Most likely, there would be other students wanting the same thing. The number of organizations at this school impacts student involvement in a powerful way. No matter your interest, you should be able to find people at this school that share it.
I really enjoy the projects that Engineers Without Borders works on, and I was planning on leaving the group earlier this week because I am changing my major to architecture, but I realized that architect often work alongside engineers to get projects done. So, it would actually be very beneficial for me to stay in the club to network with engineers.