APRIL 17, 2023 • By Matthew Tierney
How did your extracurricular activities energize you?
Engineering has a hands-on aspect that makes classroom learning more fulfilling, but you can also get this hands-on experience in other ways. As part of UTAT, I had the opportunity to implement design features from datasheets and extremely technical documents. I learned how to navigate the entire timeline of designing a printed circuit board from schematic to layout to physically soldering components by hand. I’d say that implementing theoretical concepts is what makes engineering fun. Event-driven clubs can also be really inspiring. You meet a lot of cool people who are fired up and ready to take on the world. Seeing highly motivated students follow their passion helped equipped me with the tools to shift the gears of change. During my time as NSBE president, I frequently organized on-campus workshops with companies like Google, Microsoft and Shopify, looking to create career opportunities for students. In roles like this, you learn how to manage a team of executives, the challenges the come with it, and how to leverage industry connections into internships or full-time work.
School can be challenging at times, so it’s important to focus on the journey, not just the end result. There are many clubs here that cater to a wide variety of interests, and it’s pretty easy to find an extracurricular you like doing. But even if you don’t join a club, try to find like-minded people you can bounce ideas off of and who want to realize the same change you do. Just having your circle of people can help you form the best path forward to impacting the SkuleTM community.
