To current team members – on the communication side or not – I highly recommend spending time with Kimberly and asking about her storied career . It ’ s well worth your time .
Are you still close with any one from HEVT ? If so , who ?
It ’ s funny you ask . I shouldn ’ t have known anyone when I moved to Detroit . I don ’ t have family or connections to the area . But through EcoCAR3 , I found a roommate , who was the communications manager for Mississippi State . She ’ s now one of my closest friends . I also reconnected with members of my team who moved to Detroit , and reached out to students from other teams who are now close friends .
What was your favorite event from HEVT / EcoCAR3 ?
Are you familiar with the show Chopped ? We did something similar , but instead of ingredients we gave kids Legos . They could build anything they wanted , but they could only use the resources available . We earned media coverage , got to teach kids engineering through playing with them and the pictures were adorable !
Can you think of a time / memory that was considerably challenging ? How did you overcome this challenge ?
We hosted a luncheon for the Girls Scouts of Virginia Skyline . Unfortunately , they arrived an hour early and were starving . Fortunately , we had some STEM-oriented tools for after the event . We broke those out early and were able to distract them until the food arrived . The rest of the event went off without a hitch !
What did HEVT mean to you ? EcoCAR3 completely changed the course of my life . My job , the city where I live , my group of friends – all have been influenced by EcoCAR3 . More broadly , EcoCAR3 helped me realize how much I am capable of . I ’ m more confident because of it .
What do you miss most about HEVT ?
I loved the brainstorming meetings . We kept running into the challenge that our target audience wanted nothing to do with a hippy dippy version of the Camaro . By working together , we came up with creative , strategic and ultimately fun ideas .
Did HEVT help you acquire your position now ? If so , how ?
Absolutely . Through EcoCAR3 I built my network , which helped me get the interview , and I built my skills and confidence , which helped me get the job .
Looking back , what advice would you give yourself ?
I wish I had spent more time in the garage asking questions . Once I started hanging around the engineers working on the car , my learning skyrocketed . I also made some great friends .
Is there anything you ' d like to add ?
The beauty of EcoCAR3 is you get to work with students from different departments and from different states . Surrounding yourself with a diversity of ideas , approaches and backgrounds is smart no matter your career .
MOMENTUM SPRING 2018
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