The intersecting lives of two ME undergrads

Sophomore Year

• Lived in the sorority house
  • Got my little
  • Served as Environmental Chair for the house
• Menace - Vice President
  • Coordinated fundraisers and Alumni Weekend
  • Worked to set up practices while being COVID safe
• Baja - General Member (chassis)
  • Designed the steering column & floor panel
  • Joined business and electronics and testing sub team
  • Floating shop was still in-person
  • Started machine training at ESPL
• Started working for MechSE Communications like Maddie!
• Applied for T&M minor, but didn’t get it
  • Glad I tried, but it worked out for the best because I don’t love business
• Got my COVID vaccine
• Experienced spring in Champaign-Urbana for the first time!

• Highlights: Stat 400 with Albert Yu, lots of nice walks with friends 🙂
• Summer: Back at summer camp

Sophomore Year

• EVERYTHING IS ONLINE
  • • Took one in-person lab each semester
• First cousin came to study at UIUC!
• Lived in brand new ISR
• Baja - Outreach Director
  • • Designed suspension tabs
    • Ran a mentorship program, virtual events for recruitment, and some community outreach
    • Attended my first official competition in Louisville at the end of the year!
• Research: Wave Propagation and Metamaterials Lab under Professor Katie Matlack
  • • Learned about ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation
    • Created video for EOH
• Career Fair more successful this time
• Joined ASME projects team
• Struggled in ME 310
• Got my COVID vaccine
• Experienced spring in Champaign-Urbana for the first time!

• Highlights: taking ME 445 which was my only in-person class that semester, going to my first Baja competition, and being on the leadership team!
• Summer: Worked for Caterpillar, Inc., lived in my (first) apartment in CU.

Junior Year

• First apartment with 3 roommates
• Younger brother comes to study at UIUC!
• Baja - General member
  • Joined Suspension sub-team
  • Designed rear uprights
• Volunteer work - Contextual Engineering Group
  • Worked with farmers in Guatemala to develop more efficient oven to roast cardamom seeds
• Study abroad – applied in the fall for the spring semester
  • Was worried I wouldn’t go because of COVID
  • I got to go and attended the University College Dublin (read my blog)
• Got COVID in Ireland ☹
• Frisbee - UCD mixed and women’s team
  • Went to Cork and Limerick with the team
  • How I made Irish friends 🙂
• Traveled around Ireland and Europe: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Croatia, Czechia, Austria, and Portugal!
• ME 370 walker project was fun AND hard

* Course equivalents while studying abroad

• Highlights: ME 340, Art 140 was so fun
• Summer: Internship at DeltaHawk Engines

Junior Year

• Things are back to in-person (mostly)
• Apartment with 1 roommate, near the Engineering Student Project Lab (ESPL)
• Baja - Chassis lead
  • Led and organized all chassis projects
  • Also designed rear suspension control arm
• Continued research through the ISUR program
  • Worked on correlating ultrasonic properties with strength of binderjet additively manufactured materials
  • Gave a poster presentation in the spring
• Had a more successful career fair
• Got COVID 🙁
• Struggled in ME 330 and ME 360
• Pulled (my first) all-nighter for ME 370
  • And worked on the project over fall break
• Picked up a grading position for ME 370 in the spring
• Started playing intramurals
• Took a trip to a steel plant with WiMSE

• Highlights: Taking ice skating and game design, building a traditional Japanese boat and a Baja SAE vehicle in one year, and working on the ME37x projects (kinda)
• Summer: Moved to Milwaukee and worked in product design

Senior Year

• Second apartment with my same 4 roommates
• Baja - Senior Designer
  • Frame and Tab Jig
• Decreased my involvement with the Frisbee team, as it became hard to balance with Baja Senior Capstone Design
  • Started spring “pick up” frisbee games for fun with people in the community
  • Had more free time this semester, which felt amazing!
• Career fair in the Spring - success!
  • Interviewed at several places
  • Negotiated a signing bonus
• Struggled in ME 320

• Highlights:  ME 310 with Professor Ewoldt, the foosball table in Lu MEB, and getting closer with Baja teammates after my semester away
• Planning to go backpacking in Yosemite this summer!
• Working at Caterpillar starting this July

Senior Year

• Second apartment with 3 roommates and a dog
• My sister and another cousin come to study at UIUC!
• Baja - Captain plus Senior Capstone Design
  • Frame
• No career fair
  • Negotiated a full-time contract for the first time
• Was an ELA (loved that, shout-out ME7 section)
• Had more free time! (for the first semester, like ever)
• Struggled in ME 320

• Highlights: Had so much fun in my art class and I loved captaining Baja, also got my bowling average up to 90 💪
• Planning a trip to Europe this summer!
• Working at Milwaukee Tool full-time starting in August

GO ILLINI!