Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Completing a project from the ground up isn't easy when the language and environment is
different from anything you've ever known.
That's what a group of Ole Miss Engineers Without Borders students learned on a recent
trip to Africa to build a schoolhouse.
Our goal was to try build as much as we could while we're there, and we're pleased with
the reasonable amount that we accomplished with the limitations that we faced and so
we'll call that phase one and we look forward to going back to do phase two which is complete
this and maybe even the next classroom.
Communicating was both a struggle at times....
But just because some, some of the villagers didn't speak English and some spoke very little
English, it helped me realize that sometimes you have to say the same thing in several
different ways and then they have to repeat it back to you to make sure that they understand
what you're trying to say.
And a lesson in universal truths as one student learned.
Wherever I was I knew there was like a couple of kids following me and even if I was just
doing a project they would want to try and help me do it. It was kinda cool to just have
that bond with them and we didn't even speak the same language. And that experience taught
me that language wasn't a barrier for us.
The future engineers also learned more about themselves.
In high school I always did service work but I never did it to this degree. I want to do
structural engineering as my job after college, and so being able to work on this project
and to build a school with my own hands -- I worked on the design and the build so that
way I really understand what goes into it and I think in the future it's going to help
me a lot with designing other projects.
It's different to see you know your work put into place actually going from a theoretical
classroom aspect and then putting that out in the field really makes a world of difference.
You know seeing what you're capable of and what you can accomplish with what work you've
done.
And discovered that life lessons are learned both inside and outside the classroom
Yeah, it looks great on a resume, but even more than that it's the experience. Going
into an interview most kids are saying I've been in school for four years, I've learned
this, this is my G.P.A.. But they can't say I've had my hands in the concrete, I've tied
rebar together for a grid, I've measured everything out, I know the spacings. I think the experience
speaks volumes.
I look forward to the opportunity to be a reference for any one of these students at
any time in their careers.