Year Two!

     My second year actually didn't actually start on campus but at The Shepherd Color Company, where I completed my first co-op semester.  I was in the maintenance department and I learned so much in my four months there!  I was in charge of my own projects and monthly reports, as well as I followed the mechanics around and learn small tips and tricks you would never learn in class.  I had just a great experience I am returning for my second co-op over the summer! (For more details on this head to my Co-op Experiences tab!)

     For the Spring Semester, however, it was back to the books, and the classes were definitely more challenging than my first two semesters.  However, there were several classes that were specifically for my major which were really interesting and made it feel like I was finally  learning the basics behind mechanical engineering.

     In particular this year I learned to weld on my co-op in my free time.  To me it is significant because it is a real-life skill that is not too common for people to know how to do (let alone a girl) and it could be a useful skill for my career as a mechanical engineer.  During my co-op, I got so good that I was actually able to weld part of a piece of equipment that was going to go into service, and that gave me confidence in my abilities as a welder, as well as confidence at my co-op. 

    If I could change one thing this past year, it would be to get more involved on campus.  my whole life I have been shy and never really like trying new things by myself so it's been a struggle me to open up and join some clubs or activities on campus.  I hope in the next coming semesters to either have confidence to join a group or club by myself, or even find a friend to join with me so I can continue making connections throughout the campus.

     This year I have definitely seen a big change in my confidence in my work and in myself.  I came into college a little self conscious and not too outspoken, but over these past several months I have begun to really feel proud of my work and my ability as an up and coming engineer.  I used to be slightly scared to ask certain question because I didn't want to seem inferior or skill-lacking, but now, both at co-op and in the classroom, I have started asking more and more question as I've finally realized I'm there to learn, not to have already know everything. I hope to soon have no fear or hesitation what so ever when I really don't know something and have to ask for help.

    This upcoming year, I hope to improve on my social speaking skills even more and try to break away of a typical engineer's introverted personality.  I hope to make a lot more connections on campus and at co-op to help give me the most out of both opportunities.  In doing this, some advice I would give myself is to study hard instead of procrastinating until the night before (as I unfortunately did more than once last semester) and don't let my fear of what people might say dissuade me from asking them a question.  Personally, I advise myself to give up caring what other people think of how I look, act, or feel, because for most of my life I have my decisions have been dictated by that.  I have slowly started to love myself both inside and out, and I want to keep that up amid the stress of classes.

    So two years down and three to go; man time flies, even though some classes seemed to never end some days.  I don't know where the honors program will take me next year, but I do know one thing-it's going to be life changing.

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