Ohio University offers many different classes for anyone to take, which is awesome. You can take so many classes like the ones I mentioned, plus bowling, fitness classes, wilderness survival, whitewater rafting, scuba diving and many more. One thing I would encourage other students to do is take classes like these for fun throughout their time at OU. It is a great way to unwind and take a step back from all the class work, which can get overwhelming at times.

I am very excited to be finishing my college career on a good note. It’s really nice to have extra time this quarter to reflect on the past four years at Ohio University, which have been the best I could have ever asked for.

My group was the first one to go in the class in which we built 26 small cabinets in 6 hours. It may not seem like much at first, but we put in an awful lot of work into our project. We started off by designing the product and making 3-D drawings of it in SolidEdge. Next, we had to build a prototype and all of the tooling that we were going to use in our production run in order to make the multiple batches of the same parts within specification. Along with all of the tooling and drawings we had to make, we also had to make a bill of materials, product structure, cost sheets, flow charts for the movement of parts throughout the lab and much more.

The whole scope of the project is to understand how a real manufacturing facility operates with all of the inputs of a process to come out with a finished product. The ETM senior capstone is a lot of fun, and it gives us seniors the chance to put everything we have learned together in one final project.

This is one of the most fun classes that I have ever taken because it is preparing me for the real world. We are learning how to apply what we have learned over the last four years. We are also doing group work which also helps you figure out how to work as a team. This is a huge help with your interrelationship skills. I am learning how to work with people and understanding how to communicate with them. Even though I might not always agree with what people in the group say I am starting to be able to figure out how to calmly argue with them to get the point across without getting mad. It is very nice to start using what we have learned over the last four years and putting it to good use.

We had the opportunity to discuss simple machines with a first grade class. We had wooden models of each simple machine and gave them real life examples of where they can be found. To my surprise, many of them could identify each one after learning about them only one week earlier.

We then took the kids outside and had them find examples of simple machines on and around their playground. After that, we went inside and had them pass around each model and draw them. It was fun to teach at the elementary school and it was nice to get out of class and do something different. Being a part of an organization like Epsilon Pi Tau gives me the chance to meet new people and give back to the community.

For our final project in the class we were required to have our two robots conduct a palletizing routine with plastic building blocks. The first robot pulled the blocks off of gravity feed and placed them on the conveyor line to move them to the next robot, which pulled them off the line and put them in another gravity feed. Here is a video showing the final project in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnFw32pLT1I

I was so nervous for my interview but I must have done something right because I was hired for the summer. It is a small company so I was thrown right into the fire and started designing, checking out the design, and checking out if the design worked in the units we were producing. The work environment was not as scary as I thought it would be and I learned so many things that will help me receive a job after I graduate. This summer internship was one of my best experiences that I have received while I was at Ohio University.

I took the opportunity to sign up for a Plant Biology class for fun that sounded interesting. The class focused on medicinal plants and their many uses from our region. We met for five hours in the afternoon for just two weeks and went hiking in the woods at many different parks and trails around Athens County. Not only did I end up learning to recognize over 120 common plants and various uses for them but the class really gave me the chance to explore southern Ohio. After living in Athens for over three years now I’ve realized that there is so much to do here and so many different places to go check out. Taking the Pbio class ended up being so much fun and it gave me the chance to get out and see a lot that Athens has to offer.

When I first came to OU, I was just like many new students, confused and not a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to do some kind of engineering, the decision of which kind was the hard part. Dr. Sampson, got me started on some introductory classes where I would be able to get a feel for which type would fit me best. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses, and having a passion for knowing how things work, I knew that I was picking the right field, ETM.

ETM has allowed me to foster that passion for knowing how things work to be able to look at almost any product and within minutes determine exactly how that product was made and how it could possibly be improved.

Never once have I ever regretted my choice in colleges and a degree to pursue.