Students given the opportunity to experience the reality of their desired profession, often leave feeling inspired. After attending a summer program at Exelon, junior Jayden Thomas got the bright idea to start his own Engineering Club at Marist.
“I was able to connect with a lot of great people who gave me a lot of valuable insights into engineering and the whole world of it,” said Thomas. “I felt that being able to communicate what they told me to the rest of the school would be very valuable for people.”
While Thomas came up with the idea on his own, he is not the only one working behind the scenes. The club is not only supported by a moderator, but also an executive board consisting of other Marist students who share the same passions as Thomas.
“There are six officers, and Jayden is extremely organized in how he has that club structured,” said club moderator Tracy Carlson.
Starting a club from scratch is not easy and can often be accompanied by bumps in the road. That said, complications can actually be beneficial and help with the learning process.
“I think it’s one of the valuable things in our leadership, right? Leadership is about negotiating with different personalities, negotiating with different people, and communicating effectively to resolve conflict,” said Thomas. “I think it’s been a great exercise for all of us in learning how to become better leaders.”
The Engineering Club, while still new, has already seen immense success. In fact, the first meeting had an attendance of 43 students, a number that will likely continue to grow as time goes on.
To keep up this success, Thomas and his executive team have not only organized engaging activities for each meeting, but they have also planned to have real engineers, both civil and mechanical, come in as guest speakers.
“We’re going to have a speaker, John Albrecht, of ComED, who graduated from Marist in 1983,” said Thomas. “He’ll come here to talk about his experience as an engineer, transitioning from engineering to business.”
A typical meeting, without a guest speaker, begins with a quick discussion about the instructions for the project of the day followed by time for the to experiment and explore. This helps foster a creative environment, reminding students that it is okay to make mistakes sometimes and learn from them.
Regardless of the ups and downs, this group of students have worked together to combine their ideas and share them with others.
“They have impressed me so much. In fact, it’s almost like they’re running it and I’m kind of just facilitating their vision,” said Carlson.
