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Mentors

Each of us were paired up with another Madison Engineering Mentor and given about 13 students to lead through their first semester of James Madison Engineering. I teamed up with Nima Guerin and Meghan Daly and our group (framily) were called the Beach Bums. Together we mentored them through many design projects and fostered close bonds between the upper classmen and the incoming freshmen. I also worked with a group of 12 freshmen engineers who were part of a Residential Learning Community (RLC)  and participated in a special Engineering course. You can view their experience through this twitter account: @firstyrengr

Summer Workshop

 

Before teaching our framilies, the mentors came together before school started to participate in a 3-day leadership workshop. During this workshop we learned about our leadership styles, how to facilitate discussion, and create goals for the semester. Since this program was new that year, we were the first ones to set the bar for what this program was going to be. We were ambitious, and this program has blossomed garnering attention from the Dean, the President of JMU, and other colleges across the country as it was presented at symposiums. 

Madison Engineering Mentorship Program

 

 

Beach Bums Final Presentation

 

For the final presentation, all freshmen enrolled in ENGR 101 had to present on a design challenge to innovate a solution to the current outbreak of Ebola. Out of the 10 design teams, the Beach Bums won the challenge after their final presentation. They presented  to the Dean of Engineering (Dr. Patterson), a panel of graduates, and their classmates (about 100 students) as a Pecha Kucha style presentation.  

RLC Final Presentations

 

Those in the RLC program had a semester long challenge to design a computer game to educate 2nd graders using Bio-inspired design. They were given an added constraint of using a device called a Makey Makey as their game controller. They worked in teams of 5 and were able to test their games with a 2nd grader to recieve feedback. 

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