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John’s Quotes #10

[206-220; 224-237] For the rest of my classes, I have Mechanical Engineering Dynamics. My professor is very understanding and passionate about how he teaches. I really like the way he teaches. The very first day, I introduced myself to him, because I want to make that a habit. I told him about my mental health. He listened and simply stated, “I hope you feel comfortable in this class.” Not only that, but whenever somebody asks a question, he answers it thoroughly. This professor goes in depth and tries to answer everything concisely, so I’m not afraid to ask a question in class. He usually writes on the board. He has his own website where he posts certain things and programs some simulations for us to use. That’s really fun. Just being able to see some of these concepts. He has so much energy in every class that its contagious and makes me interested because he’s doing it in such an interesting way. Every time I go into the class, I feel engaged. I don’t feel like I’m just writing down stuff to write down. When I have a homework assignment from him, I can get through it and learning something really important for me. The other two classes I have are mostly math-based. I have Engineering Economics, which is interesting with a lot of math. I have Differential Equations. It’s my second favorite just because I have a good study group. I’m excited to work through those problems, just because I have a group that I can share it with. I feel like I understand Diff Eqau more than Econ at this point, even though I felt like at the beginning of this semester it was going to be the opposite.

[241-251] There’s this one person who I’ve been studying with since my freshman year. We’re more than just study partners. We’re really good friends. Spending time with them is fun. It’s also easy to study with them because I know them. Getting a study group together is hard because it’s about establishing a time and place, scheduling, and all the logistical stuff. I also have my girlfriend in the class, so I can study with the both of them and overall it’s during that time it’s fun and it feels easier to me to express my ideas.

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John’s Quotes #11

[7-13] The end of the semester last year I was in two Engineering classes and two […] Let’s see, one was math, and I forget the other one. Going through my mechanical classes was a little rough that time around, so I was concerned I wasn’t going to pass those classes and move on to my next coursework. I ended up looking through my spring semester coursework and I ended up just revamping all of it because I thought I wasn’t going to pass. I changed it so I would have one Engineering class versus three. Then I also tacked on the last few of my pre-reqs. I intended to get those done during the summer, but then summer work became a thing and I decided to take those instead.

[14-20] I ended up just changing that course schedule because I didn’t feel confident about my abilities in those classes. However, surprisingly, I passed all of those classes. I’m happy that I passed, and I don’t regret changing my course load. I think overall it was for the best because the course load that I’m in, it’s helping me deal with […] because last semester was a lot of math, a lot of intense […] it didn’t stimulate my mind that creatively, which I feel is important for me, personally. I was going to be a performing arts major before deciding to be an engineer, so I wanted to see if I needed something stimulating creatively in order to feel a little better.

[66-72] I don’t think the reason I didn’t feel stimulated creatively was more so in engineering overall. I think it’s just with the classes that I had, because it was a lot of the more simple […] I shouldn’t say simple, but it doesn’t have the design aspects that I want. It has the stuff that you deal with while you’re designing, before you’re designing. It was Dynamics and Economics, which were my two engineering classes last semester. Economics I could care less about. However, in dynamics, the professor was really good. I really, really liked him, but […] Actually, no, that class was good. I think it was just the other classes that were kind of all math, all science, nothing that I could incorporate my creative skills.

[76-81]  I feel creative in engineering when there’s an aspect of design incorporated in the course. For example, when I’m dealing with a group project where I can talk to other people about design and what we have to do for the project. Those are the times when I feel excited to work on things. When it’s a homework problem with a bunch of numbers just thrown at it, I could do it, I could do the work, it’s just like I wish I had a purpose behind the work other than get a good grade. I guess I just want to get into the design aspects of my major. Overall, I think that’s what I want.

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John’s Quotes #12

[86-98] I enjoyed my dynamics professor because he was very engaged, very engaged. He made his own website with a bunch of simulation-type games, where you could test out your theories. For example, if I have acceleration in one direction and speed in the other direction, the simulation game could help you determine how long will it take to get to zero, and whatnot. You could test all those things out with the software that he made, that he programmed. He made his own videos for that website about the stuff that he was teaching, kind of like Khan Academy. Basically, that same style of video, just with him. And in class he wasn’t just relegating everything to his website or to his videos, he was actively teaching. If there wasn’t a participant in class, then you weren’t going to get much out of it because he wanted you to participate, and that’s when he started teaching. He wanted to hear all the ideas, even if they were flawed, and oftentimes he would rather go over time discussing things rather than just getting straight to his answer. He was very engaging, he had the right amount of difficulty, not because the class itself was taught in a way that was difficult for me but because the coursework itself was engaging, but it was a difficult subject. He didn’t make it harder than it was, he made it easy to teach, easy to digest, and he gave us work that we had to work for, answers that we needed to work for.

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John’s Quotes #13

[105-117] The way that my art professor structured his class, it’s basically […] For the first five weeks, we had to turn in three completed projects three weeks in a row. The first two weeks were talking about it and talking about prep and whatnot, but the next three weeks you had to make some intriguing artwork in one week, and then turn it another one the next week, and turn another one on the next week. That whole process in that five weeks you had to brainstorm enough ideas in order to find one that was worth working on. You had to then start making that thing. For me, I did all 3D prints. For other people, they did laser cut stuff. What else? They made metal projects. Some of the students straight-up just did paintings because that’s what they specialize in. He wanted us to go through a process of rapid design and he said, “I want you to make something that is worth looking at and I want you to work through all the mistakes. I want you to see those mistakes and see what you can do later next time. If you make a mistake, then it’s fine if you roll with that mistake and get through it that way.” And I did end up going through with three separate art projects, three different sets of models, and it was stressful, but it was really rewarding at the end. It was just a lot.

[143-148] Working on the project was rewarding because I guess it made me feel like, even though I have no idea how it feels like, it made me feel like an engineer because I had to solve these problems really quickly. For a couple of these mini projects, I had to find shortcuts in order to get through these designs as fast as possible. I had to learn the limitations of the 3D printer and of the amount of time it would take for the 3D printer. I had to learn and adapt really quickly throughout these three weeks in order to make those deadlines. At the end of it I had a product, a solid piece of art, that I could be proud of and I am proud of.

[121-138] One of them I decided to make something that only a 3D printer could do, at least do it well enough in a week. I ended up making a plastic figure. Through one side it looked like a film camera and through another side it looked like a man that’s walking. So, if you just turn the figure it looks like a completely different thing. I also made a box that it’s supposed to sit inside so you could see it at both angles. The next thing I decided to make a pun. On the outside it looked like a piece of poop, and then on the inside, when you take it apart, it looks like a pizza. It’s a pizza crap. That one, I wanted to make something more organic looking through 3D design and it was difficult. Who thought making a piece of poop in CAD was difficult? But it was not fun. Then, the last project I did I wanted to have interlocking parts, all of which did not need support material, because after working with the 3D printer […] After that first project actually, I had to get off so much support material and the support material didn’t look nice, even after I got everything off it still didn’t look like how I wanted it to, so I was like, screw this, I’m not going to have any support material for my next few projects. This very last one I made these parts interlocking. There was a hole at the bottom and then an insert on one of the sides, and through the design process I was like, how do I make it so that I don’t need any support material and that I don’t have to clean this up? I messed around, I did some research, and by the end of it I had four pieces that all interlocked together, and it did not need any support material. I think it was cool

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John’s Quotes #15

[34-40] My other course is mechanics and materials. It’s really giving me a hard time, not to the point where I think I should not be in engineering, but it’s just the course. The way my professor teaches the course, it’s rough. There’s very little online help that he could provide. All of his notes are in person, and they go by super-fast. It’s not very helpful for me, where I like to instead of looking at my notes, because my notes are not always the best, I like to just look at the slides, whatever extra material, over and over again just so I can get it right. The way that he teaches, it’s just not very helpful for me. I’ll probably retake that class, which I don’t mind. Yes, I don’t mind retaking a course that I actually really need to know.

[168-181] I’ve had the mechanics and materials professor once before. However, this professor, it’s hard for me to understand what he’s teaching because he doesn’t read the room very well. When people ask questions, he doesn’t understand the question all the time, so when he’s trying to answer the question, it kind of makes it more confusing. He’s certainly not a bad professor, he’s just not one that I’m more accustomed to, or I’m predisposed to. I guess, because I don’t like taking notes. It’s been a bad habit of mine since high school where I just can’t take the best notes. Combined with that, in my classes I’m shy, so I don’t have the guts to talk to people around me and ask what I miss. It’s not entirely the professor’s fault. I went to his office hours, I talked to him about some of the things that I’ve been struggling with, and he was very, very kind. He even loaned me his book when I couldn’t get a copy, the same edition that he wanted, so he ended up loaning it to me. I was going to take pictures of the homework that I would need to complete. I don’t think I ended up doing that because I think I was going through some mental health stuff then. But overall, he’s a good professor. He’s not my type of professor. I’ll really need to rethink how my classroom habits are so I can go to this class again next semester.

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