Hello once again,
If you frequent our blog and are a ‘fan’ of Chemical
Engineering, you have just landed on the correct page. It’s Easter break and
while some are busy celebrating a lot of students are busy stressing about
their graduation or anxious about how to be productive this summer. Yet, here I
am sitting in front of my computer sipping on some relaxing herbal tea and not
biting my nails.
Now, I know you are reaching out to call 911 because you
have never seen a meme that would show a non-stressed, non-caffeinated student
but don’t worry I am doing just fine!
The holidays are soon coming to an end; which means everyone
will be stressing about exams, job and internship applications and trying to
get that 100-hours coursework done in a night. Yet, I feel relaxed, relieved
and refreshed to tackle all of the above.
Again, I assure you there is no need to ring 911.
Yes, I know you are skeptical about
how ‘fine’ I am but what I am about to tell you might give you the much needed
reassurance. My spring semester so far has been full of activities, studying
and stressing. However, while I approach the end of this seemingly long time, I
am sure that a lot of good has come out of it:
If you have ever spoken to an engineering
student at UOS they definitely have had to mention the Global Engineering
Challenge (GEC) or the Engineering! You’re Hired (EYH); and while both these
weeks are really fun and excited Chemical Engineers don’t seem to have enough
of them. Hence, our department does its own version of the challenge right
before Easter break for both 1st and 2nd year students. While
GEC and EYH teach you the soft skills of teamwork, research skills and solving
real life problems, design week sheds light on the application of core
knowledge, analytical and critical thinking and project management.
Throughout design week each team works to
solve a very realistic chemical engineering related problem. The teams have to
make use of a variety of different modules and concepts already learnt as well
as computer software and known literature. This hands down approach helps
everyone not only see how classroom knowledge can be applied but is by far one
of the best ways of making students revisit a variety of concepts and theories
in preparation for exams.
2. Networking sessions
The Chemical Engineering department
organizes a number of networking sessions throughout the year; some of these
include calling upon alumni to share their advice. One of the few sessions that
I attended this semester consisted of alumni from all ages and phases (yes, it
is an engineering pun) of life.
I had the opportunity to interact with a
diverse variety of individuals - from my current professor’s classmate back
from 1970’s who showed everyone their class photos to a recent graduate who
just started working at a company; from a Chemical Engineer who worked for
Shell for over 30 years to a Chemical Engineer who is now working in law
enforcement as a police officer.
All of them had invaluable knowledge and
experiences to share. We discussed issues such as typical job roles, emerging
market and the contribution of women in the uprising of engineering. At the end
of the session, all the insights and advice kept me encouraged throughout the
semester to continue working on those applications even when the psychometric
tests and endless cover letters got me bummed up.
Like every typical student, I too leave a
lot of my coursework for the last minute or sometimes I too need that extra
help because I was unable to understand all the content and needed a different
way of grasping it. To my benefit, I have had a ball of a time this semester as
most of my lecturers acknowledged and acted upon this need. While some choose
to reduce the amount of time they ‘blabbed’ on for and instead chose to spend
some time on physically going through examples step by step during the lecture,
others went ahead to give out worksheets and video tutorials.
Yet, for me the best move so far was having
additional drop-in sessions. This semester, we were faced with using a variety
of software to carry out a number of engineering related calculations. We all
are aware of how most operations in today’s world are becoming highly
computerized which means that coding has become as sacred as the concept of
thermodynamics. It was a very useful way of ensuring that individuals who were
comfortable with the software from the initial sessions would not need to spend
additional hours of their busy time while those seeking more help had access to
more resources, one on one time and practice which meant that no one would be
struggling all by themselves at 2 in the night trying to work on ‘alien’
software.
So there it is guys, my top 3 reasons for being able to
breathe a little better, laugh a little louder and sleep a little more this
Easter break. However, before I go here is a bonus pro tip… if you are still
struggling and yet want to do all the ‘chilling’ I am doing, just find a friend
convince them to motivate you to get up and get going.
P.S. I get my flatmate to check up on my study progress
every morning and every night. It always helps to put extra tabs on yourself.
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