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Meet Josh

Josh is a white man attending a Canadian university and majoring in mechanical engineering. He was originally interested in programming and game design, but during high school switched his interest to mechanical engineering due to its focus on problem-solving and design. During Josh’s first year, his classes combined aspects of mechanical and electrical engineering. He was able to spend time buildings things like robots and catapults, and enjoyed the opportunity to combine theoretical problem solving with hands-on building. During the fall, he found that he was faltering a bit as he begin to struggle in his classes:

I started to question whether or not I should be here if I’m not able to succeed in this class…. One professor actually told me, “I wouldn’t care if you got a 2.5 in this class and just passed it barely because as long as you get the concept and applied them later, it’s not about whether you can pass it with flying colors.” So, I realized a high grade isn’t the only grade you can get. I also realized it’s a culmination of concepts, but as long as I get the ones that I’m there to master, that’s what the program was focused on teaching me at that time.

From Josh’s first interview

The image below is a journey map that Josh created summarizing some of the highs and lows from his first year as an engineering student.

Josh’s second-semester, first-year journey map

Want to learn more about Josh’s journey? Check out his tag here (or by clicking the ‘Josh’ tag below) to see quotes from his interviews over the years.

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Josh’s Family & Childhood

[11-15] I come from a middle class family, and I’m an only child. My father went to vocational school for construction, sprinkler fitting, and that was the maximum amount of education he had. My mother went to college. She’s a nurse, and she recently got her master’s. I have a big family; I have some people who have gone to college and some people who haven’t.

[101-112] My parents never really told me what to do. They were always kind of in the mindset of, “Do what you want, do what makes you happy, we’ll support you.” Whatever I decide is fine, so I never really had a reason to go anywhere because of them. I think from the beginning, my mind was pretty set on a science field so it didn’t take a lot of encouragement to pursue that.

[19-24] When I was in middle school, I changed my desires to reflect more programming and computer based design, I was looking at game design and stuff like that. It wasn’t until I got in high school and I started taking the programming courses that I decided to go to computer science. And then when it came down to time to choose my major, I had gotten sick of the programming but I still liked the problem solving and working hands on.

[101-112] One big influence that I did have was my cousin. The way high school in my district worked was when you pick your classes for your freshman year of high school, you decide whether or not you want to go to the vocational school half day and then, after that first year, you can decide to go full day or still half day. My cousin, who is three or four years older than me, went to the same district I did. He went to the vocational school for computer design. He originally wanted to be a roller coaster engineer and I remember growing up and seeing all the things he was doing and I was like, “That’s really cool.”

[115-121] So, he was definitely one of the people who got me interested in the computer aided part of engineering, and he’s definitely the one who I think got me really interested in the design aspect and kept me centralized around that area. But otherwise, it wasn’t really people telling me to go here or go there. I had this idea from the get go and people would kind of just positively reinforce. If they asked what I wanted to do, I’d say engineering or computer science and they’d be like, “That’s a good profession.” Or, “I think you’d succeed there.” Or something like that.

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Josh’s Quotes #1

[25-31] So, I came back to engineering and I chose mechanical because of my like to be hands on and to have an end product to hold in my hand. My family was definitely very supportive of everything I did, and they’re the reason that I’m able to come to school today. But I definitely think it was my own interest and desires that led me to engineering. I think it was a lot of deliberation on what each profession means and what’s involved in it, and I found that engineering was the one that fit the bill for most of the things I enjoyed doing.

[146-151] I was like, “I want to design things because I know how things work, I enjoy doing math, I feel like I could succeed.” So, this is why I decided I wanted to be an engineer, and then I looked at schools. I found my university because I found schools based on location. I wanted to be independent from my family but I wanted to be close enough that if I needed to be there, or I needed to be with them, the opportunity was available.

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Josh’s Quotes #2

[220; 234-241] I came in as a mechanical engineering student. That first semester was very introductory into everything, college, engineering. It was mostly review: I had a chemistry course and I had Calculus I which I had already had in high school. So, there was a lot of repeat but I think they did that on purpose to transition you into college life, and it’s a different mindset obviously. But they started and gave us just a basic run down of what engineering was going to be. They split it up and gave us I want to say six or seven weeks in electrical discipline and six or seven weeks of mechanical discipline. The purpose is, if you decide you’re in the wrong one, you can switch without being behind in the spring semester.

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Josh’s Quotes #3

[245-257] I really enjoyed my classes in the fall. We built a robot, and we built a catapult completely from scratch to our specifications. In the spring, we got into specifically mechanical engineering. I had an intro to mechanical engineering course, and we did six weeks in the computer lab and six weeks in the machine shop where we designed, fabricated and assembled a soft blow hammer and a tumbler. It’s a plastic block with a metal swing arm on it and you can you just crank it endlessly; it’s like a little toy. That was to teach us how to deal with tolerance, to get pieces to fit together. They also, in the catapult project, put us into groups because the purpose of engineering is to learn to work in a group as well as doing things on your own. So, those definitely satisfied that curiosity of saying, “How can I make this machine make a piece of solid metal into some intricate design? And how can I transfer that skill into a different project and use it in this way?”

[258-263] So, I feel like that only increased my desire and I still wanted to be an engineer. The schooling, obviously as we go on, gets harder and becomes more of a workload. But, I still have that curiosity. We’re doing less hands on now than we are doing theoretical work, and I think the hands on is what keeps me interested. But the theoretical work does satisfy me to an extent because it’s still the satisfaction of solving problems or figuring out equations and finding the right numbers.

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Josh’s Quotes #4

[158-160] I will say though this last fall it did falter a little bit because I was having some trouble in classes and I started to question whether or not I should be here if I’m not able to succeed in this class.

[202-211] I went to some professors and multiple people told me, “You can breeze through this class.” One professor actually told me, “I wouldn’t care if you got a 2.5 in this class and just passed it barely because as long as you get the concept and applied them later, it’s not about whether you can pass it with flying colors.” I went with that mindset and continued. The homework format changed and the tests ended up being super simple compared to some of the homework problems and some of the things we were doing in class. So, I realized a high grade isn’t the only grade you can get. I also realized it’s a culmination of concepts, but as long as I get the ones that I’m there to master, that’s what the program was focused on teaching me at that time.

[160-161] I ended up getting the help that I needed and I ended up getting a four in the class.

[345-348] Also, I think I definitely have a good routine. I’m a very organized person in how I organize the things in my house and also how I organize my life. I’m very timeline oriented, I have Google calendar and I do put a lot of my things on there. That’s something that I’ve kind of always prided myself on, is knowing when I can do something.

[358-362] You kind of get a feel for what each assignment is going to take time wise. It’s about deciding how much time I’m willing to spend at once. So it works good for me, I know a lot of people have issues with their time management and I try to give recommendations where it’s due but it’s definitely manageable. I mean, I still have free time even being involved in the five or six organizations I’m involved in.

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Josh’s Quotes #5

(6-9) So when the semester began I got to see all my friends. You know, I got to see the people who I had missed over the break. I also was excited for the start of the new classes.

(16-17; 19-20) Then I had a bad grade on a thermo exam. And it was a 78 percent, which for me is a fairly low grade, the teacher did tell me that I was in a fine spot, she told me it wasn’t a big deal, so once I got over my own personal opinion on it I was able to look past it and continue the semester.

(279-283; 294-296) With that thermo grade, it really wasn’t that difficult for me to overcome it because when she told me it wasn’t a bad grade, I kind of went what do you mean that’s not a bad grade? Because to me it is. But when she told me that I was fine, and that I had four more exams to make up for it, I just took that to heart and I just committed myself to say okay, well now I know. You know, I’ve got to make sure I’m on top. It’s kind of just a mental commitment more so than anything. It is more studying, I think a little bit more. But I think it’s more so asking questions and making sure I understand the concepts in a deeper sense.

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Josh’s Quotes #6

(24-28) And then [in thermo] I felt like I started understanding more, so I felt like it started getting higher. And we had the strength class that I had, we only have two exams in the semester. And our first exam, I ended up doing very well on. So that really boosted my confidence as long as with doing well in these other classes. And that was right before we went on winter break.

(34-38) And then right when I came back, the classes almost unexpectedly have just seemed like a whole bunch more work, and not just in the classroom but outside the classroom with extracurriculars, seemed to be increased. So it kind of took a fast down slope. And I had multiple exams, I had two or three weeks where I had an exam or two every week. I was constantly walking around stressed. It was just a very difficult time. And obviously made it through it, and I did relatively well, but some of the grades weren’t as good as I’d like them to be. But it was still a stressful time.

(306-310) So the low point, I’d say was mostly because of stress, not because of any grades I was getting. Because I just felt like with all of the things I do on and off campus, and all my classes, I was constantly going somewhere and doing something. So I would feel like I don’t have any time in the day to relax, which is bad for me, because if I don’t have time to relax, then I’m just burning myself out day after day after day.

(311-312; 336-337) . . . the way that I got through that was through a combination of committing—It was more, what’s the word? I planned out more so, when I was going to do my work and how I was going to do it, than just going along and seeing what would happen. It’s having everything in the Google calendar and being able to look ahead and say this is when I can afford to take a break, this is when I have to do my work.

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Josh’s Quotes #7

(176-177; 179-183) So the [mechatronics] practicum, he—well, so we are usually working in groups of two in class when we do labs, when we do projects, anything like that. When you come in he gives you, basically a lab sheet like you would with any other thing, except you’re expected to do it on your own. So we basically start with a hundred, and then every time you have to ask for help or you get something wrong, he deducts points. And you’re based on your ability to build and test a circuit without the assistance of the professor.

(145; 201-203) . . . right now we’re also working on a design project. I only have one team member. I know my team member from last semester. And this semester we have a lot of classes together, so we’ve gotten to know each other a lot better, so we work together well. But it’s very low stress environment. We’re both very open to the other’s ideas, and if we don’t understand, we’re honest about it.

(434-436; 438; 446-450; 439) I don’t interact with all of my peers, but the peers that I do interact are pretty much the same ones that I see day to day and that I interact day to day and it’s a very helpful environment. And I mean not everyone likes everyone. I’m not saying this is the case, but I might be a quiet introverted person and someone might be loud and extroverted, and I don’t want to be around them. Or they might be rude and obnoxious and I don’t want to be around it or vice versa. Someone may consider me rude and obnoxious. Or when I answer the questions in class, people might consider me a teacher’s pet, but we can put aside our differences to help each other.

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Josh’s Quotes #8

(398-402; 390-392) I walked into class for an exam last week, and I think I asked her a single question before the exam started. And she said yeah, you were definitely at my office enough asking questions. And I didn’t say anything, but it made me feel bad for going to her office and asking questions, when I feel that kind of behavior should be encouraged. I don’t say anything to her because she’s a professor and there’s a certain level of respect between the two of us.

(361-364; 367-369; 370) I’ve only ever had a few bad experiences with faculty members. The professor I have for my math methods class is very rude and short at times, when you ask questions, and it almost seems like she doesn’t want to help or that she feels that the questions I’m asking, I shouldn’t be asking. It’s frustrating when faculty members treat you like a child and act like you’re dumb for asking questions on things they think you should know, when they’re the one with a doctorate and you’re the one going to school. But I’d say those experiences are very far and few between.

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