Beyond the Classroom: Impactful Assignments that Helped to Grow my Skills 

Being A Civil Engineer student, I saw that I had to a Writing for Engineers class which was questionable at first. I was pondering to myself thinking what would a writing for engineers’ class be able to teach me. During the course over the past months this class has given me and taught me skills I never knew I needed and knowledge that can take me far beyond into the Real World when I leave the classroom. Teaching us how to be professional, punctual, and most importantly how to tell a story. 

One of my first major assignments in this course was to make a resume and a cover letter. I knew what a resume was, a sheet of paper showing your qualifications, but that’s not all there is to it. Mr. Bubrow pointed out one important thing, using key words.This is to highlight and show ourselves out on our resume about what our skills are and what we have to offer in a company to whatever job we apply for in the future. Another one was Audience and Purpose, who are we writing to and why do we want this person to read our resume, basically make it easy for the reader. Our main job as a writer is to make it easier for the reader. I’ve never written a cover letter before, so I achieved that skill and how to do research for a job and how to formulate and get straight to the point in my writing.  

Secondly, another assignment in this class was a lab report. In this Lab report, we had the task of experimenting with the probability of a dice by rolling a pair of dice and analyzing and reporting the outcome of my research. Some skills acquired while I brought out my experiment were how to write an abstract and formulate my hypotheses. After doing my experiment, in which the probability of some dice is 7, I had to use information literacy to find scholarly articles to compare to my experiment and create a synthesis in my lab report. It was fun doing this lab report because I know that in the future, the skills I require from this with help from the use of technology such as Microsoft excel and word will help me in writing a formal lab report will be needed in my field of work. 

Thirdly, another major assignment was about our current student center. This was another fun activity because we got to put our research skills as a group and gathered information together to make a report and a solution to the problem. Our team was called the Triple Threat, and we found out that many students are commuters to the City College of New York. Many reported back in the survey we sent out that students hardly visit the current student center because it is not very fun, has no activities to interact with other than the gym, which the majority of students use at times. My teammates and I collaborated to use our minds and great ideas from the feedback about what changes the CCNY students want to see for them to want to interact with the new student center. This project was an eye-opener for me because I , too do not visit or use the student center, and as an engineering student, we are problem solvers, so this excited me to also think outside the box and make this project fun with my teammates. This project really taught me how collaboration and working in a team are sometimes important and how to properly collaborate with different individuals in a group, which is a skill I will need in the real world.  

 As a Civil Engineer Student, I chose the topic of 3D printing, which is correlated with my partner’s career path as a biomedical student. As engineers, we are problem solvers, and we like the easy and cheaper alternative. Civil Engineers have built 3D bridges that have been held up for many years just like a regular bridge, which is also made from iron and steel. Engineers also use industrial robot machines to build 3D houses. When I was doing my research, I found out that the inventor was Charles Hull, who came up with the idea so he could get his work done faster, which is time efficient and costs way less for the materials that he used to use before. On the other hand, my partner could relate as they could print bionic arms for disabled people to use, which is a lot cheaper than the robotic arms for people who can’t afford them. The citation on how to properly put references in the APA format was a bit challenging, which I learned and developed my skills. This project also improved my confidence in how to present to many different groups repeatedly in the same setting with background noise and still get across my point and information that I had to present to each group. This skill can definitely help me in the future when I go to group meetings or even present in the real world with work colleagues. 

Apart from these major assignments, the elevator assessment is where you challenge yourself to give the major and important details and skills about yourself. I’ve always struggled with how to introduce myself to someone. I remember with this exercise where I had to introduce myself repeatedly to 4 different people under a minute. At first, I was scared, but practicing it repeatedly with my classmates, I felt more comfortable and confident. Mr. B is actually a very fun, sarcastic person who cares about his students. The quest was another assignment I did not like, but it really helped to re-highlight the most important aspects to remember and to bring into the real world with us. I loved when he walked into the class and observed everyone, then played his little songs before he took attendance, because you know, once his music ends, it’s business time.  

In conclusion, my previous assignments have helped me to feel more comfortable working with a team member, which is nice to share ideas. Group work is no fun, but learning different skills and how to speak up helped with dealing with other people in groups. Mr. B taught some really good life skills, such as how to make my resume and how to make a very posh cover letter, which will definitely be able to get me a job. Mr. B didn’t teach us how to read or write in regular English, but real-life skills to prepare us for what he always reminds us of in the real world. He always reminds us that we came to his class to tell a story.