It's hard to believe I'm already halfway through my college career. I survived Organic Chemistry I and Statics, yet another harsh winter, and my first co-op experience. This was a crazy few semesters. So, where to begin?
Alright, so Fall semester begins and right off the bat I'm dropped into new experience: commuting to school. And yet, I wasn't falling fast because somehow I scheduled all my classes to start no earlier than 12 pm. Talk about being able to sleep in a bit. Sadly, however, because my first class was 3 times a week at 12 pm I had to forego enrolling in another semester of choir. That bummed me out a lot but I realized it was probably for the best since classes would start ramping up in difficulty this year. I really liked organic chemistry at first, despite the scary stories I had heard. It quickly required me to allot hours upon hours to studying and practicing the lessons learned in lecture. The lab portion I took alongside helped me exercise those lecture subjects and between the mental breakdowns before tests, I found myself enjoying the material. I was finally learning new and interesting chemistry that sort of validated my major. I had finished most of the basic intro-level courses in freshman year and was getting into the cool stuff. Time management once again was so important because of the homework, studying, and now commuting I had to balance between my harder core classes. The BoK course I took to round out my semester actually helped keep me sane. Had it not been for the fun course devoted to flight, with a focus on drone technology, I would have been bored to death by the same old same old studying and cramming during the week. Having a distraction, or just deviation from the norm, was really helpful in maintaining the semester. But, all good things must be punctuated with bad because after finishing my organic chemistry exam I drove home where, on the way, I was a bit of a leadfoot and got slapped with a speeding ticket. Hooray, another lesson! Merry Christmas to me.
Before starting my co-op at AK Steel after winter break ended, I attended LeaderShape 2015 with 59 other UHP students. I go in depth with this experience in a separate section of my portfolio, so feel free to head over there to learn more about it. It's safe to say it was the best start to the semester I could have asked to have. 59 people who were mostly strangers at the beginning of the week felt like friends I had known for years when we got back on the buses. I learned so much about how to be an effective leader and would recommend this experience to every single UHP student.
I spoke with my supervisor from my prior summer internship at AK Steel about returning to my position as a co-op student in the annealing department at Middletown Works and he extended me an offer. I gladly accepted and started working January 12th. It was if I had never left because as soon as I walked in Chris had a project lined up for me to complete. During my return I was able to revive the professional relationships with the engineers and hourly workers I had met during the summer of 2014. Project after project kept me busier than I could have ever hoped and I learned valuable lessons in time management and presentation. The largest and most important project I worked on had to do with welding coils that came off the cold mill. The welds were breaking down the line and I was put in charge of researching and testing weld settings that would yield deeper penetrating welds. I never would have thought I’d have the opportunity to work closely with a welder and have that kind of freedom with a project. Through phone and email I contacted multiple AK employees as well as contractors from Praxair and Miller Electric during the course of this project. I made sure to conduct myself professionally and speak/write in the same manner. Seeing this project through to the end by finding a solution that we implemented imbued me with confidence and such a sense of accomplishment. My last day for the Spring co-op term was May 1st and I started classes for the Summer semester on May 11th.
Despite the rocky start in the Fall I finished out my co-op term as strong as I could. I thought of it as a way to mount a comeback. I’m now almost two months into my Summer semester where I’m taking organic chemistry II and a few other major-specific courses. So far I like the coursework and the challenge that the second installment of organic chemistry brings. All my ChemE friends who co-oped the same semester I did are back on campus and I have many classes with them. It is amazing to be able to study with them and continue growing as a student. I was blessed to be asked back to my position at AK Steel in the Fall and look forward to finishing out my sophomore year this semester.
Alright, so Fall semester begins and right off the bat I'm dropped into new experience: commuting to school. And yet, I wasn't falling fast because somehow I scheduled all my classes to start no earlier than 12 pm. Talk about being able to sleep in a bit. Sadly, however, because my first class was 3 times a week at 12 pm I had to forego enrolling in another semester of choir. That bummed me out a lot but I realized it was probably for the best since classes would start ramping up in difficulty this year. I really liked organic chemistry at first, despite the scary stories I had heard. It quickly required me to allot hours upon hours to studying and practicing the lessons learned in lecture. The lab portion I took alongside helped me exercise those lecture subjects and between the mental breakdowns before tests, I found myself enjoying the material. I was finally learning new and interesting chemistry that sort of validated my major. I had finished most of the basic intro-level courses in freshman year and was getting into the cool stuff. Time management once again was so important because of the homework, studying, and now commuting I had to balance between my harder core classes. The BoK course I took to round out my semester actually helped keep me sane. Had it not been for the fun course devoted to flight, with a focus on drone technology, I would have been bored to death by the same old same old studying and cramming during the week. Having a distraction, or just deviation from the norm, was really helpful in maintaining the semester. But, all good things must be punctuated with bad because after finishing my organic chemistry exam I drove home where, on the way, I was a bit of a leadfoot and got slapped with a speeding ticket. Hooray, another lesson! Merry Christmas to me.
Before starting my co-op at AK Steel after winter break ended, I attended LeaderShape 2015 with 59 other UHP students. I go in depth with this experience in a separate section of my portfolio, so feel free to head over there to learn more about it. It's safe to say it was the best start to the semester I could have asked to have. 59 people who were mostly strangers at the beginning of the week felt like friends I had known for years when we got back on the buses. I learned so much about how to be an effective leader and would recommend this experience to every single UHP student.
I spoke with my supervisor from my prior summer internship at AK Steel about returning to my position as a co-op student in the annealing department at Middletown Works and he extended me an offer. I gladly accepted and started working January 12th. It was if I had never left because as soon as I walked in Chris had a project lined up for me to complete. During my return I was able to revive the professional relationships with the engineers and hourly workers I had met during the summer of 2014. Project after project kept me busier than I could have ever hoped and I learned valuable lessons in time management and presentation. The largest and most important project I worked on had to do with welding coils that came off the cold mill. The welds were breaking down the line and I was put in charge of researching and testing weld settings that would yield deeper penetrating welds. I never would have thought I’d have the opportunity to work closely with a welder and have that kind of freedom with a project. Through phone and email I contacted multiple AK employees as well as contractors from Praxair and Miller Electric during the course of this project. I made sure to conduct myself professionally and speak/write in the same manner. Seeing this project through to the end by finding a solution that we implemented imbued me with confidence and such a sense of accomplishment. My last day for the Spring co-op term was May 1st and I started classes for the Summer semester on May 11th.
Despite the rocky start in the Fall I finished out my co-op term as strong as I could. I thought of it as a way to mount a comeback. I’m now almost two months into my Summer semester where I’m taking organic chemistry II and a few other major-specific courses. So far I like the coursework and the challenge that the second installment of organic chemistry brings. All my ChemE friends who co-oped the same semester I did are back on campus and I have many classes with them. It is amazing to be able to study with them and continue growing as a student. I was blessed to be asked back to my position at AK Steel in the Fall and look forward to finishing out my sophomore year this semester.