My mother is an elementary school music teacher. Walking into her classroom, you can see walls plastered with posters of her students’ favorite artists right alongside portraits of Beethoven and Mozart. From hearing her talk about teaching and even being one of her students myself, I’ve come to realize a central philosophy in her classroom: the most important component of education is getting students invested. A kid isn’t often motivated to learn piano so they can play “Ode to Joy,” they instead start by hammering out the melody of their favorite pop song. By first allowing the opportunity to explore and then helping a student imagine future possibilities, a teacher has created a life-long learner.
This past week, I heard a similar message when talking to Juliana, a lecturer at the Polytechnic who helped bring in a group of secondary school students to visit the design studio. She explained that there was a common mindset among young Malawians that their education ends once they graduate secondary school. By bringing these first-years to the studio, they can begin to imagine the exciting possibilities and endless opportunities that wait for them in the field of engineering.
Earlier that day, I was talking with my teammate Rodrick about what he planned on pursuing after his graduation. In addition to launching his own company and becoming an entrepreneur, he wants to focus on youth outreach centered around engineering. When we later heard that a student group would be visiting the studio, he immediately began setting up an Arduino and coding a mini light show. The same instant the LEDs began to light up, so did the faces of those students. Looking around the room, I witnessed the design studio come to life. Each intern from the Poly had taken to their favorite machine in the room and began sharing their passion for design. Questions could constantly be heard in Chichewa, and everywhere people stood crowded around screens full of code. At the laser cutter, the students knew not to stare into the bright light that sliced through wood like butter, but nobody could help themselves from sneaking a quick glance… watching your own design be translated from computer to reality is just too exciting.
On Saturday, we were invited to the kickoff event for the Biomedical Engineering Student Society (BESS). With the Poly’s first class of biomedical engineers graduating this year, the room was full of passion and an energy unlike that of any student organization meeting I’ve been a part of at Rice. Between each item on the agenda, an MC kept this energy alive while a DJ blasted tunes. Students gave presentations on the work they had done in the design studio, and encouraged their peers to take advantage of this amazing resource. As a student said, it’s one thing to learn a concept in a classroom, but applying it to a real-world project is completely different. Not only does the experience allow you to further develop and test your understanding, but the feeling when you see all of your hard work benefit another is unparalleled.
Towards the end of the event, Christina (one of our fellow interns from Poly) asked if one of us could provide a view of the bioengineering major at Rice. Hannah, being the bravest among us, got up and shared her experience with the classroom. After touching on the details, she began to dive into the reason people become bioengineers: to help people. As the statement resonated with me, I looked around the room and saw heads nodding with murmurs of agreement. In that moment, it became clear that we all shared this common perspective and had become invested in making this world a better place to live. At some point in time for all of us, the subjects of math and science had been connected to a purpose. For me, it was a summer camp. For Rodrick, it was an introduction by a teacher. For the students that visited us on Friday, hopefully it will be their trip to the design studio that keeps them imagining what’s possible.
– Alex
