Minors: Art and Mathematics
Choosing Mount Union
I actually chose to come to Mount Union relatively late. I didn’t make my final decision until the very end of April. I was down to two schools, Mount Union and Heidelberg. My brother was a student at Mount and was also on the wrestling team. I came up for a visit on SCHOLAR Day to watch my brother present as well as make one last visit. I had already loved campus, but on this visit I got to see the engineering labs and that is what really sold me on the school.
Adjusting to Campus Life
I adjusted to college pretty well on my own, but I was fortunate to find a good support system very quickly. I met my two best friends through the Honors Program and FYS, and we’ve been friends since day one. Being on the track team also gave teammates to help me through the first couple weeks. I come from a very small town where you know just about everybody, so coming to a small campus where everything is so close knit really makes it feel like home.
Advice for Future Students
Try everything. Mount Union has so many different opportunities for its students to get involved and have fun, from clubs to intramurals to different events around campus. Mount has just about everything!
Majoring in Engineering
Choosing a major was a pretty difficult decision for me. I had never had a really strong pull to one major or another. I knew I wanted to do something with math because it was my favorite subject in school and I had always loved learning it, but I wanted to do more with it than just become a math teacher. Engineering seemed like a good fit because it not only uses math, but science as well, in creative ways to solve problems. The final factor for me choosing engineering was my last visit to Mount where I met with Dr. Jadaan and got to see the engineering labs. I was so amazed by all the new equipment in the lab that I couldn’t wait to start learning.
Faculty Attention
Most of the professors I’ve had, especially in the engineering department, really care about you and your education. They are here because they want to teach you and watch you succeed. Dr. Jadaan is my favorite professor. Not only have I enjoyed his classes and learning from him, but he also has a lot of professional experience. I love listening to his stories from when he worked on research, at NASA and at John Deere. He has inspired me to set high goals for myself.
Hands-On Learning
Mount Union provides great opportunities for hands-on learning. I have had labs that go along with my courses every semester that I’ve been here. Since the engineering major is still relatively new to Mount, all the equipment in the labs is still really nice and we get to start working with it our sophomore year, even a little bit during freshman year with our projects. There’s also a Global Engineering course where we get to go to Belize for a week to work on a project in the spring of junior year, and I’m excited about that!
Liberal Arts Education
A liberal arts education gives you more opportunities than just what is in your major and field of study. It may seem useless to take a creative writing class when you’re an engineering major, but you never know when something you learned in a “useless” class will help you out in the future or help you connect with someone. The Integrative Core has made me more well-rounded, and the foundations courses have certainly improved my writing and presentation skills, which are good skills to have for any profession.