“The collective International Senior Design experience has been incomparably influential in my life. This experience has given me so much confidence in myself as a person interacting with other people and as engineer. I feel that I am ready to enter the world as a professional and make a difference. It has also given me great excitement for the future. Through this class I have built relationships that I believe will last a lifetime with my professors, other Tech students as well as Bolivian people. I recommend this class to everyone. The only bad thing about it is that it eventually has to end.
At this point I have known all aspects of International Senior Design, from the very exciting two weeks in Bolivia to the grueling 7 weeks of design work that followed. Despite the hardships I faced and the many nights in the lab until midnight, I still feel that these are the two most important courses I have ever taken. It is not just that I have gained the experience, the confidence and a much greater understanding of every aspect of the actual design project, for all of this is true and important, but the class has stirred something much deeper in me.
I participate and do very well in my mechanical engineering classes. But I am never satisfied with these classes because through performing the work required for them I do not feel I am contributing to the world in any positive way, nor do I truly feel I am learning anything that in the future will allow me to help. I plan to enter the Peace Corps next fall and I believe that nearly all the applicable skills I will be able to put to use there will come from ISD as well as my participation in Engineers Without Borders. I understand that I may have needed many of my previous math classes in order to effectively participate and that the mental discipline I acquire through various classes was important. But the truth is I value this experience gained in ISD more than I value every mechanical engineering class I have ever taken combined. Because it involved something that is real and brought face-to-face at every level with all of the humans involved.
I could praise ISD forever, but that will not matter until fellow Tech students, staff and faculty acknowledge its worth and absolute necessity within our education. Our generation lives in a most controversial time in this world where it is absolutely necessary that our collective mentality change and that we open our eyes to truly see the rest of humanity with which we share this planet. Poverty, death and disease, war and imbalance exist and at a frightening level. This must change. The only way to really drive these issues into the hearts of the young people in this country is to bring us out into the world. This has to happen. Each student that is handed a degree from Michigan Tech University should be required to travel to a lesser developed nation so that they can experience first hand that tremendous gap between what some have and others don’t. ISD does this, it brings us out into the world and those of us who haven’t already chosen a path involving bettering life for a collective humanity will likely be influenced to do so.
I can’t imagine there is a class that more fully complies with ABET criteria and I highly doubt there are professors more passionate and dedicated to guiding their students. I believe that the ISD experience is what is needed to spark that change in the minds of students that will ensure that there is a future for this world and its people.” Bailey Gamble BSME 2007, Bolivia August 2006
“Above all, through hard work I have earned the confidence I need to take on whatever challenges life (engineering or not) may present. I have no doubt that this experience will stay with me for my lifetime and that had I not partaken in this experience, I would not have the same outlook on life. These classes are those that I most highly recommend to prospective students and those that are viewed most respectfully when I speak to future employers.” Chase Nelson, BSEEN 2007, Bolivia August 2006
“Sometimes I do not recognize the person that I have become; I am more confident, outgoing, and happier, something that has not escaped the notice of friends and family. This experience has shown me that no matter how concerned or nervous about an experience I am, I have the capabilities to meet and even exceed the challenge.” Amanda Kohler, BSEEN 2006, Bolivia August 2006
“It’s kind of weird; I didn’t think I would feel different when I got home. I can’t stop thinking about the experience…. Will it change the way I am forever? I don’t really know. The whole experience feels like it is still sinking in. One thing I do know for certain is I made new lifelong friends in the process, some Bolivian friends and some new American friends.” Eric Griffith, BSEEN 2007, Bolivia August 2006
“The course also has had an impact on me that can not be calculated in a grade, or justified by the attainment of college credits. It has had a bearing on the way I think and work, any course that has the ability to do that, deserves the highest honors.” Chase Nelson, BSEEN 2007, Bolivia August 2006
"Today the team saw our first project option! The school is Calama and a 10 minute taxi ride from our quarters. Before I left the US, I tried to prepare myself for what I would see. I talked to past students, looked up photos online, and stretched my imagination. Even though this preparation may have lessened the shock, I was still left speechless. The bathrooms were a swamp! The toilets didn't flush and all had waste piling up in them. The seats were caked with dirt and flies while the tanks seeped liquid onto the floor. Doors were off hinges, glass was broken, and the ceiling was falling in. The smell was strong and nauseating!
That was only the inside. Outside sewage was coming up from the ground. Damp spots surrounded the septic tank and muddy puddle spots were adjacent to the bathrooms. The children had footpaths that ran straight through these infected areas.
To my surprise, they didn't even notice. It was like they didn't know anything different. The school staff and teachers are definitely aware of the problems and seem eager for our assistance." Mella Trahan, BSCE 2006, August 2005
“The very last visit to today really hit hard. The director, the guard, the secretary, the teachers, and the students couldn’t quit thanking us. It’s great, but I want to tell them that I haven’t done anything. Thank me when I figure out how to fund this project getting built. Thank me when sewage isn’t puddling up in your walkways. It no longer is a report for graduation, but a design for friends - friends who would do anything for me, whatever I needed, whenever I needed it.” Mary Anderson, BSEEN 2006, August 2005
“The International Senior Design program provided
a very unique experience that does not end with the submittal
of a design report. Not a day goes by that I do not think
about, and at times worry about, the projects that I have
been so fortunate to participate in. The impact of these
experiences has helped define my future educational and
career goals.” Tim Martin, BSCE 2004, Current Master’s
International Student, Dominican Republic 2003 and 2004,
Bolivia 2004, Bolivia 2005
“My experience in the Dominican Republic is one that
doesn't compare to anything else I have ever done. I gained
confidence in my ability to develop and design a complete
engineering project. I also had the opportunity to grow close
to a community that is nothing like my own.” Amy Curtis
BSCE 2004, Dominican Republic 2004
“Through physical construction, field engineering,
data collection, research and design, students are subjected
to nearly every type of engineering challenge imaginable.
Communication with a co-worker that does not speak your language,
last minute revisions of designs that lack constructability
in the field, and calculations that will affect lives on a
project that will actually be built can not be experienced
in the classroom. They are obstacles that my team overcame
to get our job done.” Amy Curtis BSCE 2004, Dominican
Republic 2004
“I don’t know if this “culture shock”
will totally hit me until I am back home in the States. I
know I can’t turn my back on these people now - and
it’s only been one day.” Andrew Luehmann, BSCE
2004, Dominican Republic 2003 and 2004
“When going to a job site such as ours the true essence
of life is remembered. Our gift of an education should be
used to help those who are less fortunate.” Ray Trugeon,
BSCE 2004, Dominican Republic 2003
“We use our knowledge to bring an essential part of
life, water, to a people. Building and designing this simple
water distribution system will be more satisfying than any
project I’ll ever do in the States. Projects in the
US generally make life more convenient for people, while our
project in the Dominican Republic will change people’s
lives.” Ray Trugeon, BSCE 2004, Dominican Republic 2003
“I think this “trip” has changed me as a
person. I see now what engineering is----not just design,
building and improving things, but helping and improving people.
” Kerry Price, BSCE 2003, Bolivia 2002
“Today was extremely painful because everyone down here
is so selfless. They live for what they have and only now
do I see how much we really mean to them. It is impossible
to put into words all the feelings I have experienced today
but I can say that I hope they never ever leave me. I will
come back to see these people again because no one else in
this world has ever made me feel this way.” Jason Hindenach,
BSCE 2003, Bolivia 2002
“To actually see the site with standing water and walk
around the neighborhood affected by this problem allowed me
to realize that our designs have actual impact on a community
of real people. This is something that isn’t evident
when working on “paper projects”. Engineering
decisions have human consequences. I’m sure I’ve
known this all along, but I really got the feeling of how
much rides on these decisions after getting to know the people
whose lives would be affected. It’s rather frightening
when that reality sinks in. It makes you realize the weight
of responsibility an engineer has in her designs.” Sandy
Stankevich, BSCE 2001, Bolivia 2001
“The program leaves the community self-sustaining.
We have not come in and tried to change any of their construction
methods. If anything, they have changed our perspective. All
of the technology that we view as essential, may not be.”
Kerry Price, BSCE 2003, Bolivia 2002
“Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity
to change myself from within. By taking me out of my culture
and showing me what the true meaning of giving means is something
that will stay with me forever. I can not imagine any other
experience so great as helping people build a school for their
children. I promise that I will come back with at least one
other person so they can see one of the true meanings in life
and that is giving to those that have nothing and making them
a better world.” Jenelle Hejny BSCE 2003, Bolivia 2002
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