Develop department relations, enrich UD

By: COLE FRANCETIC-FRESHMAN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

This is my first year at the University of Dayton and I’m having a blast.

There’s an incredible sense of community here and everyone genuinely seems to care about making this school great. That being said, I’ve noticed a couple problems with the University that I think need to be addressed.

I have seen far too many of my friends having the awful conversation with their parents explaining their grades. While some might say they should make use of all the help that’s available, I don’t think it’s addressing the real problem.

The line I always hear is, “Well I know that now, but if I had known that before, I wouldn’t be stuck here.” I don’t want to see another one of my friends have to endure that phone call.

There seems to be some problem with mistakes being made and only being learned after they’ve happened.

There is a solution to this problem. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME, is trying to start a mentoring system for engineers.

The plan is to pair freshmen with sophomores, sophomores with juniors and so on. ASME is currently looking for other clubs and professional organizations to partner up with and implement this strategy across multiple majors.

The idea is simple: Give the community a chance to share our mistakes and successes so that we can all find the benefits.

A solution, look west. From my current understanding, the university owns a vast expanse of land stretching to the river.

There are plenty of organizations that would love to partner with Dayton to build amenities dedicated to club activities and engineering facilities.

An excellent idea would be to invest in a facility like the TechShop. UD could have an adjacent garage with rooms dedicated to specific clubs. Hey, maybe with this new found space to build stuff and hold club activities students might do things that would make the University even more marketable.

Lastly, UD needs to think differently.

We are a small school that doesn’t have the big programs or super intelligent students like some other major universities; what we do have is community and the ability to rally behind an idea.

Ideally, a joint partnership between all the departments and majors on campus should be fostered. Creating a Le Mon racing team, which involves 24-hour car races, could be a start.

The engineers will handle preparing and supporting the cars; someone needs to buy the car and some sponsors would be needed, so the business students would have their hands full; uniforms would be needed to go along with the sponsors and the art students would probably be glad to contribute. Also, there is a ridiculous amount of strategy needed for the races, something our math and science majors could probably calculate.

This kind of program would set UD apart, give students real world experiences and would be a great win for everyone involved.

These are just my personal opinions and observations. If you want to discuss ideas further, you’re welcome to reach out to me at franceticc1@udayton.edu.