Saturday, February 7, 2009

Two weeks went so fast

The past two weeks have been amazing. I`ve learned so much from being a member of this implementation team, the biggest lesson being organization. There is so much that goes into organizing a project like this. Itineraries need to be made and kept. Materials have to be ordered and delivered. Labor needs to be organized and trained. Tools have to be ready and prices need to be set. All of these things are done in the corporate world every day. Organization is necessary for producing and selling a product, which is essentially what we are doing.

The design process also required a lot of organization. Research had to be done and deadlines for the stages of design had to be met. Prototyping required working space and materials, all of which had to be set up in advance. It was a collaborative effort. Everyone had to be kept on the same page. Members had to be notified if schedules were changed, which they often did. It wasn`t an easy task, but I took so much away from the experience.

EWB offters students so much more than what they can experience in a class. The real world problems that we face add so much value to our education. We probably won`t be able to see all of the benefits from this trip until we enter the workforce and possibly after that. I know that I will return to the United States with a better idea of what it really means to be an engineer.


Taylor

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