Scholarship Drive

Take a guess what the college budget is for an ICC student living in our dorms?

.... over $14,000!

Just a few years ago that number was less than half of what it is now. It is a crime against society as far as I'm concerned. Nonetheless it is a design constraint underwhich we must go forward as a program. I am trying to solve the problem on several fronts by searching for money from the NSF and from private foundations. In addition, I am in the beginning stages of raising money on an annual basis from engineering alum. I started in August by writing to my former HCC Engineering students (there are 87 of them) and asking them to donate to ICC for scholarships. Guess what? They have! I have commitments from HCC alum for over $5000 by January 1st.

Now I will be contacting ICC alum. You will hear from me soon as I look to ask you to pay back those who helped you by helping our future engineers attain their education.

I pay over $1000 per year to this account as do Aaron/Carol, and Brad. We hope that you may be able to help to.

TBL: We are all at different financial situations and in different stages of life. I would only ever ask you to contribute what you could no matter how little or how much.

Friendship

Many of us take our friendships for granted. We have some really good friends who we rely on to help is in a huge variety of ways. This, of course, is one of the best parts about our lives. However, how often do we go out of our way and do something special for our friends to show them how much they are appreciated. In my case, I would have to certainly say not nearly enough. Tonight one of my good friends brought me a gift to thank me for being his friend. It is a handmade headdress. It is intricate and way cool. Here are some pics.








TBL: What could you do in your life right now to show a friend how much you appreciate them?

Transitions

The beginning of college is a most tumultuous time. I have 75 new engineering students who are starting this transition and I brought my Liz to college this weekend. I shared this posting with all of them through facebook and thought I would add it here. Perhaps you remember this time in your life:

"The hardest four months of my life were those that comprised the first semester of college. There are so many conflicting emotions and fears.

I think the hardest part was feeling like something was over forever. I knew I was in the right place and that my parents fully supported me, but my life as a child was over and that hurt. This caused me to be homesick.

College is scary. There is so much unkown. Am I good enough? Is everybody else smarter than me? Will I do well in my classes? Will I like my major? Do I have enough money to get to the end of the semester? Will I let down my family if I don't do really well?

I could go on and on. There is just so much.

Well, that first semester was 23 years ago. Since then I have been a friend and teacher to thousands of students who have gone through this same semester. From these experiences, I have some insight I can share with you.

The first is for you to understand that if you are feeling any of the things I listed above, you are perfectly normal and almost everyone around you is feeling the same way.

The second is that from this semester forward everything gets much better. Time will go faster, you will be happier, you will do better in your classes, you will become comfortable with your new life.

Third and finally, I offer up these suggestions for how to make it through this semester:

*Don't ever skip class. Nothing good can come from that bad habit.
*Do your homework as early in the day as possible - in other words, get all of your work done and then go have fun. The other way around just doesn't work well.
*Stay in communication with the important people in your life. These people are the ones who have always given you comfort - get comfort of them now when you need it.
*Learn how to do well in your classes. Don't just go through the motions of studying, but invest yourself in learning the material so that you can take it with you - by doing this you will do better in your classes.
*Find some study friends. Learning with someone else is much more effective and more fun.
*Do all the things your mother would tell you - eat right, get enough sleep, and find time to exercise.

This is the beginning of a wonderful new life. But the transition to getting there will feel like hell sometimes. My life is about helping you through this transition. I am available to talk anytime by facebook, email, or phone."

What is an engineer?

Here is my definition:

An engineer is a person with an engineering degree.

One of my pet peeves (other than people who actually use the words pet peeve) is when a person tells me "I don't do real engineering" or "I'm not really an engineer". This absolutely drives me crazy. It is like there is this perception that to be a real engineer you have to be doing design work or something.

Here is the list that most books use to describe the functions of an engineer:

Design
Develop
Testing
Production
Operations
Management
Marketing
Consulting
Teaching
Research

Well I challenge you to find a job that isn't on this list! (Other than working at McDonalds or something similar). Just about every job falls into one of these categories...so if you happen to have an engineering degree and perform one of these functions you ARE an engineer.

To me, being an engineer is a mindset. It is using our creative abilities to do good things for people. Our education prepares us to do this. The way in which we go about it is our own choice. The broad spectrum of opportunities is incredible.

I've had many people say to me "you are not a real engineer, you are a teacher". Is that so? Teacher seems to be on the list above. The state of Minnesota let me use four years of teaching to qualify me to take the Professional Engineers exam. An exam I passed. So the community of professional engineers considers me to a licensed real engineer.

TBL: Earning an engineering degree is one of the most significant accomplishments you will have in life. Wear that badge proudly. Don't diminish what you do as being anything less than being an engineer.

Safety

I had lunch today with an HCC Engr alum who stopped by to drop of his paperwork for the engineering alumni scholarship drive (yay!). It was awesome to catch up on his life and bring each other up to date on our mutual acquaintances. I continue to be ultimately impressed with the quality of individuals that the 18-20 yr old college students I knew become as mature engineering professionals.

Anyhow, at one point in our conversation we turned to safety in the workplace. He said, "the number one priority in our workplace is NOT production...it is safety of the workers...I think back on all of what they taught us in college - not one class on the importance of safety." This person is an electrical engineer. People in his line of work have to always be on their toes. High voltage electrical power is nothing to get lazy about.

Throughout the rest of the day I have reflected on our conversation. He is right. Safety, especially when we haven't had a close call, can take a second chair as we carry out our daily work as engineers. In fact safety procedures can seem tedious or anal. In college we do not put the right level of emphasis on safety.

As we approach the one year anniversary of the United Taconite accident that took the life of our alumnus Andy Reed, I can't help but wonder if we, in academia, had put more emphasis on safety, if that accident might have been prevented.

TBL:Put more emphasis on safety in your workplace and with your coworkers.

Be on Time to Meetings

This fall the faculty and staff at ICC have begun to emphasize the importance of being on time to meetings. Our culture had slipped into one where it was not at all unusual for people to wait 15 minutes while others were coming late to meetings. Additionally, we have some people who are habitually late. You may know some people like this either in your company or teachers in your school. It is really downright disrespectful and probably something we all need to work on. If we each do our part, our workplace and our lives will be better places to be.

TBL: Don't be late.

Disc Golf

As the new school year starts, ICC students will be taking to the new disc golf course on campus. The nine pin course was built last Spring by engineering students Steve Carlson and Tim Cameron. Steve is now a junior at the University of Minnesota and Tim is starting at St. Thomas. They designed the pins, pitched the idea to the college administration, raised the funds, bought the materials, built the pins, designed the course and put the course in place. Pretty cool.

More cool are the reasons they did it. While Tim and Steve, who are graduates of Forest Lake High School, were first year students at ICC, they had a friend from back home who died. They wanted to do something in their friend's memory. Secondly, they wanted to do something for the college community in repayment for the education and experience they got at ICC.

I am impressed by these two engineering students. How many times in our lives have we acted on similar impulses? Doing something for these reasons is the right thing to do.

TBL: Take page out of Tim and Steves' book, take the opportunity to make a difference when you can.