EXPO and ASME!

This has been an intense week! Tuesday and Wednesday was the huge career fair called EXPO! I visited quite a few companies: Baker Hughes, Bechtel, GE, Jacobs Engineering, Caterpillar, Public Works for Houston, Evonik, Union Pacific Railroad. Almost everyone said, "oh you are a freshman, well cool that you are here, but we don't accept freshman". It was the response I expected, vbut it was nice getting the FaceTime and experience with the companies. Evonik was the only one that seemed genuinely interested in me, and I just applied online to their summer intern position. I also saw a company at EXPO, but didn't know anything about them so I didn't talk to them the first day and they were not there the second day. They are called Steger-Bizell, and they are a construction/infrastructure company located in Austin, and quite small. I called their office yesterday asking about an internship, and the receptionist got me to leave a voicemail for the President/founder! So nervewracking! The last company I really really really liked who wasn't at EXPO but spoke at the ASME meeting was Accenture! They are a consulting company, and their job is to go to other companies and improve their systems: whether it be through different machinery, a new computer program, how the company is structered etc. They do not accept freshman (of course) but I met with them and told them of my interest and they said try next year! As for now, I will be applying to companies online and seeing where that gets me!

Now time for the exciting part! All week I prepared to run for the position of Freshman Representative of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. There were six kids running and two positions available. We each had to give a 1-2 minute speech, followed by 2 minutes of questions, then we left and the group talked about us for 2 minutes. I was last to go on, so my nerves had definitely built up by that point! My hands shook the entire time, but luckily I knew a few familiar faces in the crowd and seeing them helped a lot. My friend Eric was actually blocked from my view by an Afro(hair), so Eric leaned way over in order to see me. When I saw him doing that, I almost started laughing, but it was nice knowing that my friends really support me! Anyways, all of the members of ASME had vote sheets and could choose two candidates. They turned in the vote sheets, and then we had weird meat pies for dinner. Near the end of eating the president announced the winners, "Katie Dennington and Jeremy Kien"!!! Ahhhhh! I got it! I am so excited! I get a fancy ASME polo shirt and a name badge! I was added to the officer email list, and our first officer meeting is next Wednesday! I will attend the Student Engineering Council meeting representing the freshman of ASME next monday! I can't wait. The officers in ASME seem really cool, which is why I decided to put more energy into ASME then SEC(as for right now). That's all for now!

Katie

OHHH chem test in t-minus 2.5 hours

And it just keeps getting crazier!

Well, I have finished my third week of classes and first FULL week of classes! (Holidays). I am exhausted! I have been attending student org meetings, going to class, homework, hanging with friends, prepping for EXPO, and most importantly, PLANNING when and how I can fit all of these things into my schedule.

First off, EXPO. I fixed up my snazzy resume, and waited over an hour for a counselor in the Engineering Career Assistance Center to read over it. I am thankful that I did though, he gave me very helpful advice, and I am much more confident in my résumé! My outfit for expo is almost ready, I have the shoes, blouse, and skirt, but I really need to figure out something to cover my shoulders. I COULD wear a cotton cardigan, but I kinda feel like I should buy a dress jacket.. The struggle! I have practiced my introduction and handshake on a few people, so all that is left is research which companies I want to talk to! I am also volunteering at EXPO as a corporate liaison, so I am excited for that!

Second, MY FIRST COLLEGE TEST! Next Thursday, I have a Chemistry exam from 7-9PM! I am all caught up on our assigned/graded assignments, and this weekend I will be doing the supplemental worksheets she just gave out. Then I will go to as many TA office hours as possible (of course I have to squeeze that in along with class, finding time for EXPO, and running for ASME freshman rep). Anyways, wish me luck!

Pix of BEVO for your viewing pleasure!

This past week, I have turned in my peer mentor application for Girl Advocates, got trained to be a Corporate Liaison at EXPO, unfortunately missed the ASME ice cream social, tried out the Kinsolving Dining Hall for the first time (J2 for lyfe though), went to the Texas/Ole Miss game, we lost :( had some yummy barbecue from ASME and more yummy Pita Pit and Fuzzy's Tacos!

 Sephra and I at the Ole Miss Game! It was her first ever UT Football game!!!

Saturday was game day, so after sleeping in, Sephra and I got all ready and spent the day tailgating and then going to the game. Sephra is the best football watcher ever, she doesn't know every little detail, but she gets into it, dances, hoots and holla's and is an overall good time!

Sunday, I woke up once again at 10:30am (so niceeee) and did my math homework and looked over my voice/speech class readings! I grabbed lunch with Eric and Andrew, then hung out in their dorm for like 5 hours doing a crap ton of homework. (Mainly prepping for my chemistry test). Amanda and Jimmy saved us from our deaths and we went out to dinner! The tower was a beautiful orange celebrating the 130th birthday of The University of Texas! I video chatted with Marissa, and now I am off to do laundry... yuck. Oh and more homework.. double yuck. That is all for now! Thanks as always for reading until the end!

Katie

EXPO!

Yesterday I attended a workshop to be prepared for the 300+ company career expo that happens here at UT for engineers only next week! I definitely got some valuable information, and I realized how much work I need to do to prep for it. I know I am only a freshman, so it is a very long shot that I could get an internship, but my motto is, if you don't try there is NO chance you will succeed, so always try! I am also going to volunteer for Expo and work as a Corporate Liason, it is a good thing for a resume ;)! Training for that is on Thursday! As for now, I am picking out an outfit, reworking my résumé, and narrowing down the companies!

-Katie

Student Orgs!!!

So UT is amazing in the sense that there are over 1,000 student organizations you can join. But then it also kinda sucks, because you have to pick and choose which are the best to join and what fits your schedule! To help me keep semi-track I am making a list:

Student Org Palooza:

American Society of Mech. Engineers- paid dues, got shirt, applied to be freshman representative to the SEC (haven't heard back results). You get free food at all the meetings and various corporate sponsors come and give presentations. Already attended the freshman meet n great and the Chevron/Chikfila meeting!

Student Engineering Council- overarching engineering group. I joined the "freshman eng. council" portion of the group, because you have to do all sorts of crazy stuff to be a "member-at-large". They put on the engineering wide events, volunteer at local science places, free food. The usual. They haven't had meetings yet, but I really hope that I can get involved in this group!

GirlAdvocates!- Organization that advocates for younger girls. They have events that are aimed to teach girls more about the sciences, tutor at a local middle school, or mentor a younger girl in middle school during her lunch. This is the only non-engineering group I am looking at. I want to be a mentor and I know starting early on enough and putting the "fixed" lunch into my schedule, I can continue with it over the years. Need to pay the $15 membership fee and there is another meeting next Wednesday.

Engineers Without Borders- Org made up of students and professionals! They have an irrigation project in Peru (near the Andes) and a water sanitation project in Panama. This type of organization is honestly the reason why I am in engineering, so I am going to attend the next meeting that focuses on Panama and try to find out more about the projects/how it works. Once I decide, I have to pay dues!

That is my running list, at the moment! Then there are the things that I have to keep up with:

• Register with Engineering Career Assistance Center
• Hopefully attend EXPO 101
• Attend EXPO (huge career fair)
• Volunteer at EXPO as a Corporate Liaison (if they choose me)
• Look into Study Abroad options (fair on monday)
• Girls Volleyball vs Penn State @ Gregory Gym
• Complete stuff off my Bucket List!
• MAKE ALL A's, or maybe one B. As long as I have a 3.5...

Ok that's all, honestly this list is more for me than anyone else. But I figured I might as well post it!

-Katie

Labor Day Weekend!

After the football game on Saturday night, I quickly packed and cleaned up my dorm because I was heading home for the weekend! I know I know, L-A-M-E, but it was my Mom's birthday on Monday (Labor Day) and I could not miss that! Sunday morning after walking across I-35 to get my car from out in the boonies, I picked up a fellow Mechanical Engineering friend, Austin, and we headed back to H-Town! The ride was quite uneventful, lots of discussing classes, a quick Buc-ee's stop, and jamming to some music. When I got home, I talked a little to my parents and sister about things I haven't put in my blog, then did homework for a good 2-3 hours. We then went to my Tia's house to celebrate my mom's birthday! The great thing was my Grandma who lives in Laredo and my cousin who lives in Chicago both came to Houston to celebrate! I was able to tell my Grandma more about college in person, and I heard that my family actually reads my blog, so those were both super nice! We had great food, and then almost set the light on fire with a cake covered in FORTY-NINE candles! Yep, actually 49, it was pretty crazy. My mom blew out all but 4 of them on the first try, so I consider that a success! When I got back it was more homework (Chemistry), wrapping presents, and sleep!

In the morning, as per Dennington tradition, we sung Happy Birthday and gave my mom her gifts! Jennifer and I got her a UT shirt and a nice laptop case! My dad bought her a new mac laptop earlier this month and tickets to the Kathy Griffin Show in Houston! It also happens to be Jennifer's boyfriend, Stevie's birthday, so we made Mom breakfast and Stevie brownies! Jennifer is out celebrating with him right now, while I was busy doing even more Chemistry and my math homework! I was able to have a free hour (sorta) so I took the opportunity to catch up on Pretty Little Liars! For anyone that watches PLL, I do NOT believe Ezra is A. End of story. Then back to the chemistry/math grind, and finally 3 arrives and it's party time! We had some great hamburgers cooked by my dad, and I got to see a lot of my family members! Unfortunately, the festivities were cut short for me, and I drove back to Austin that night!

As soon as I got in town and texted some friends, I was bombarded with dinner invites! I swear being social goes hand in hand with eating food! So I said sure, and got some yummy JCL food! I happened to run into "the Luis" again and asked him all about his weekend! Eric, Andrew, and Alex also joined us for dinner and afterwords we proceeded to do more yucky math homework. Oh, I also set them straight on the difference between blog and tumblr, two totally seperate entities. Anyways, pretty boring, and I went to bed by midnight so I could wake up bright and early to go to 8am discussion! 

Today I actually met a lot of new people! I joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and attended the freshman meet and greet for that organization! A lot of kids from my FIG were there, as well as kids I met through orientation and new people as well! In my General Engineering (helper math class), I met even more people and specifically a fellow girl Mechanical Eng. who seems really awesome! Classes are going great, and I have been on top of my homework, so nothing to complain about! Sorry, there aren't really any pictures in this one, so if you made it to the bottom of this post, I am impressed. Thanks for reading!

-Katie

PS Today I also discovered a "Girl Advocate" mentor program for college/middle school students, so I think I am going to try and get involved with that!