What a crazy time we live in right now.

As you might recall I had to stay home last semester as it was pretty much impossible to come back here to RIT, due to financial reasons as well health concerns of my entire family. For this semester however I made it! It took quite a bit of determination, but it worked, and I cannot stress enough how incredibly happy I am about it. I can finally see my friends, but especially I can, at least for some classes, actually go to school. I am not going to lie; it was not easy for me to study from home. I do not deal well with distance learning, and even though my grades came out rather good, I did not have a great time.  I also was not able to work on any of the club projects that was a member of. That was something that really gave me a headache, as extracurricular activities have always been a great part of my education, and not having the ability to work on those, was really frustrating.

Academically, I have to say I have doing rather good so far. Again, distance learning is not easy for me, but I believe I have been dealing with it well. Last semester went well, and this semester is going even better. As I am writing this, I am entering my first exam session week of this semester, and I am very confident. I had the ability to choose some excellent professors, and as one can imagine, they make the classes engaging, fun and intriguing. This helps me to be active and interested in the class. Specifically, the Fluid Dynamics class is something that I have been simply “digging” this semester. It is a big part of my Aerospace degree path, and I am glad that my professor is making it a challenging but very well-structured class. As a matter of fact, I have already secured a research intern with him for the upcoming fall semester. I can’t wait for that arrive. Not only will it help me learn new thing in the subject, but also give me necessary experience in the field that I will need for the future.

RIT has a policy that any engineering student needs to have a 4-semester experience in a real work enrolment through completing internship with various companies of the student’s own choosing. This semester I have already started the process of applying to positions in companies around the United States. Due to the COVID-19 situation, there is no chance to get a co-op outside of the USA. That is something I would like to do for one of my co-op semesters, just to “open another door for myself”. As of now my biggest “targets” for co-op positions include Lockheed Martin as well as Collins’s aerospace, which are both stationed here in New York state.

I already started the process of applying for the BS/MS program, which will allow me to gain my master’s degree a lot faster than under normal circumstances (in five years specifically). I will finish my application by the middle of March and receive the decision by the end of June. According to my academic advisor, I have a very high chance of getting accepted. It would be quite a lot of extra work, but I am determined to do it. It would allow me to leave school earlier and also would guarantee me better career options in the future.

By coming back, I was able to rejoin the Formula SAE club and gain a position of the second in command of the manufacturing team. Even though we are using the formula we built last year, there is still a lot of work to do, and I am glad I can be part of it all again.  I also joined a new club called the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Right now, we are working on a robot for student design competition. I was elected a leader of the team responsible for building the circuitry for the robot. I do have to admit that this club is quite a bit of fun, and also stands out on student resumes. ASME is a known organization throughout the United States, and being a member bring along quite a bit of benefits.