As It All Comes Together...

Hello Everyone!

I spent all of last semester co-oping at GE Aviation in Cincinnati. While it was a great experience and I enjoyed learning how to apply my mechanical engineering skills in a real world situation, I never got the chance to come back in time for mini course or a lot of the volunteering opportunities, and I missed out on all the fun adventures my cohort got to go on without me.

So this semester was a great time for me to jump back into things and do everything I could do to get caught up on what my cohort was planning for our project, what the seniors had decided to implement for their cohort project, and what the baby stews had learned from their first semester attending mini course. I especially loved being involved with the River Summit for the first time, and I got the chance to see a lot of our community partners again and make more connections between the beautiful city we live in and the campus life I experience every day. I also ended up taking SEE 402 this semester. This class is currently taught by Dan Fouke and Kelly Bohrer, and I am getting the chance to work with wetlands! I was so excited when I found out this was a possible topic, because it so easily relates to so many things I have learned through my experiences as a river steward. Through this class project, we are essentially creating tools that will inform and educate the general public along with zoning inspectors about the benefits of wetlands to the community. We are looking at it from many angles, including human health and safety, economics, flood control, waste water treatment, or drinking water cleanliness. This class and all the information I’ve found through mandatory class articles and personal research for the project has just solidified everything I learn and try to share about the importance of our valuable water resource.

I have started participating in a part of the senior project, which has enabled me to get to some of the establishments in the Dayton area that I hadn’t previously heard of or gotten the chance to experience. I have also brought some of my friends with me, so they have experienced some more of what Dayton has to offer and broken out of that UD bubble a little bit.

Lastly, I have made it a personal goal to make it to all of the metro parks and document my experiences at each one! I know this is a small task for some, but I personally find it difficult to find time to make it off campus, especially leaving enough time for a good hike. I always try to bring a friend or two, sharing the experience and trying to increase the amount of people that can get excited and spread the word about everything our city has to offer.

I’m sure the rest of the semester will go well and I have high hopes for the senior project my cohort has been working on creating and implementing!

River Love,

Saehan