Buckeye engineers retreat to recharge

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Smiling Engineering Recharge Retreat attendees pose for a group photo.
Engineering Recharge Retreat attendees spent two days learning about personal wellness, professional success and living a balanced lifestyle.

Buckeye engineers were able to take a break from their studies for a weekend at the Engineering Recharge Retreat held at the end of March. Hosted by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the Lambda Psi Minority Engineering Honorary, the event brought engineering students of all disciplines together to learn about personal wellness.

Around 100 Buckeye engineers traveled to the Deer Creek Lodge and Conference Center on March 30 to spend two days participating in a range of activities focused on personal wellness, professional success and living a balanced lifestyle as an engineering student.

“We really wanted to help our peers experience community and develop that community with each other,” said SWE Special Events Coordinator Catherine Wang, a fourth-year industrial and systems engineering major. “It was cool to see how people really opened up and talked about what they were actually facing day-to-day … Being vulnerable is so important to making genuine connections with people and having genuine connections is really important to succeed.”

On Saturday, students attended three sessions of their choice. Available sessions covered topics such as financial wellness, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, goal setting, succeeding at an internship and post-graduation happiness. There was an optional fireside chat on Saturday night and motivational speaker Dr. Jermaine Davis presented a keynote speech on Sunday before the students departed.

Wang led the fireside chat and, at first, hoped people would decide to do homework instead. She was nervous that she hadn’t prepared enough questions, but after a dinner announcement about the event, Wang said, everybody showed up.

“Normally, on campus, if you have a night event no one comes to [it] because they’re stressed,” Wang said. “But here everyone wanted to show up and be there to support me. That was really enjoyable.”

The idea for the Engineering Recharge Retreat came from a conversation Integrated Systems Engineering Associate Clinical Professor Aimee Ulstad had with Wang about attending an engineering retreat as an undergrad in the 1980s.

From there, representatives from all three student organizations met to plan the retreat. They wanted to focus primarily on personal wellbeing, but also included professional development workshops. They hope to make it an annual event moving forward.

The Engineering Recharge Retreat was sponsored by Aptiv, Owens Corning, UPS, Turner Construction, Rockwell Automation, Engie and AEP.

by Alex Andrews, College of Engineering student communications assistant

Category: Students