THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS • FOUNDED 1922 • INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA VOL.
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MARCH 6, 2024
School of Engineering hosts open house
Students in four engineering-based RSO's hosted the event for students in grades 7 through 12 By Elyssa Merrill
BUSINESS MANAGER & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER The University of Indianapolis R.B. Annis School of Engineering held an open house for community members between grades 7 through 12 to showcase what the department has to offer, according to a post on the School of Engineering’s Instagram. Held on Feb. 24, the open house ran from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with lunch and UIndy swag provided to those that attended. The Instagram post highlighted that the open house was led and organized by students within the engineering program, more specifically, the registered student organizations that are affiliated with the engineering program. According to Associate Dean and Director of Engineering Ken Reid, the four RSOs that worked together to organize the event were the Society for Women Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society for Mechanical Engineering, and the UIndy Racing Club. Reid said the event was run well by the students, creating events for those who attended—including the parents if they were interested. “We just basically let our student organizations create an open house, figure out what activities should be done, who should we invite, what do we have for lunch, everything,” Reid said. “They did a great job. So not only did we invite students and their families, their parents came. So if you were to walk by any activity that was going on, you would see students and their parents all in there doing some hands-on engineering and it looked like everybody had a lot of fun.” Being a new program, Reid said the intent was to open up engineering at UIndy to the community. According to Reid, they wanted to get people to learn more about the program, facilities and people that exist within the department by engaging in hands-on activities led by the RSOs. Associate Professor of Engineering Paul Talaga said that those who went to the open house participated in two of the various events held by the RSOs. “The activities there were hands-on engineering activities,” Talaga said. “…
They were programming small robots to go through a little maze. Another one was they were making little marshmallow trebuchets out of popsicle sticks. …There was a rocket building activity in the afternoon, as well as a mousetrap race car from the race team.” According to senior general engineering student and President of the UIndy RSO for the Society of Women Engineers Audrey Hotopp, it was not just those who signed up for the open house who participated in their events throughout the day. Hotopp also said their events held the attention of all that attended. “For the activities we did invite not only the students but the parents and the guests that came with them,” Hotopp said. “So it was very hands-on from every standpoint. And then the student volunteers that came through the RSOs participated [in the events] as well.We had some competitions between students and then the guests for them, like catapults and stuff. … I honestly think the parents had a great time too.” According to Reid, there has been a previous open house for the R.B. Annis School of Engineering, but none quite like this one. He stressed the importance of the students being involved within the process. “… We've had one in the past,” Reid said. “That one was a little bit more formal, formal invitations went out. It was a program, we did some slides, that kind of thing. This one was just handson. Come in and try some things out. Probably the biggest difference though was that this one was run by students. The students did all the programming and figured out everything that we needed to do, and they really did a great job.” Reid said he hopes this event was able to promote the department, generating more word of mouth and attraction for the community members and those that want to experience engineering in the future. Reid said the goal and benefit of hosting the open house was to get others within the community to see why the R.B. Annis School of Engineering believes it is the top engineering school in the area. According to Hotopp, she believes there was a benefit of hosting and being an RSO that participated to allow those interested to be introduced into the world of engineering at a younger age than college. Beyond what is offered over
Photo by Allison Cook
The UIndy School of Engineering’s open house visitors work on building a bottle rocket during the Feb. 24 event. The open house was led and organized by students within the engineering program and included several different activities throughout the day.
the summer, Hotopp said she hopes that these programs will promote retention of interest. “We were just trying to open it up to more of the community and try to get some of those students involved so that as they go up in grades, they all want to come back and learn more, and it's kind of hopefully retaining them too,” Hotopp said. “Because I know at my middle school, that's when we started looking at colleges, so it's trying to just get them introduced young. That way they'll already have their foot in the door.” According to Reid and Talaga, they both hope this event can be replicated in the future.With the engineering program being so new—just seven years old—the outcome of this event was great to get people through the door, Reid said. “Yeah, it was such a success,” Reid said. “We'll just put it on the calendar every year.”
Photo by Allison Cook
Guests at the School of Engineering’s open house work to build a race car with CDs for wheels and a mousetrap as the motor. The event was completely organized by students.
Honors College receives $6 million donation By Derrick Jones STAFF WRITER
The University of Indianapolis Honors College received a $6 million commitment on Feb. 9 from Laura Strain, according to UIndy 360. In 2015, the Honors College was renamed after Strain and her husband, Ron, and has since been called the Ron and Laura Strain Honors College. Executive Director of the Honors College James Williams said the Honors College has a long history dating back to the late 1960s when it was just an honors program, but, when the program was endowed by Ron and Laura Strain in 2015, it became the Honors College. Williams said an honors college is essential to every student and university. “ We provide the students an
excellent opportunity to really take their education to the next level, to be more competitive,” Williams said. “ Whether that's getting students placed into graduate programs or to get students high-paying jobs, the whole purpose is to give students a richer and deeper experience in their education that otherwise would have not been possible.” Williams said the Honors College is important to UIndy because it gives students a chance to study topics of interest to them through their Honors Projects. These Honors Projects require in-depth research and knowledge obtained through the student’s undergraduate studies, according to UIndy’s Honors College website. Junior chemistr y and biolog y major AJ Garrett said the Honors College has made a big impact in her
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undergraduate career, allowing her to travel abroad to Istanbul, Turkey and Camino Santiago, Spain. Garrett said without the Honors College, she does not believe the things she has experienced would have been possible throughout her time at UIndy. “ It's definitel y helped me, I
We provide students with an excellent opportunity to ... be more competitive." wouldn't have been able to do this research project if it hadn't been for them,” Garrett said. “So, I do a presidential scholars class and we had to interview a couple of professors around campus and see what they
were interested in … They [the Honors College] have also taken me to international trips, and it's sponsored. So like, for Spain, it was completely funded by donors, so that was all really nice. And the program has really just offered me a lot of experience that I don't think I would [have] had if I was not in the Honors College.” According to Williams, the Honors College does not yet know how they will be using the funds because they still have to finish their strategic plan. Throughout the planning, they will be going through the honors program and seeing what changes may need to be made in the future. The $6 million dollar donation will be dispersed in equal payments and to different areas of the Honors College, according to Dr. Williams. “The way an endowment works is
that whatever the endowment amount is, in this case $6 million, it never gets touched directly,” Williams said. “The idea is that that $6 million is allowed to continue to serve as an investment that grows and its growth indicates or dictates how much we can take out overtime to support the activities of the students in the Honors College.” The donation was given to the Honors College right af ter the passing of Ron Strain, and Laura Strain said he would have wanted this for the university, according UIndy 360. Ron and Laura Strain spent their retirement traveling together across the globe, which inspired them to donate the $6 million, according to UIndy 360. “We are incredibly grateful to the Strains for how they have given to transform our students,” Williams said.
SAT/ACT REQUIREMENTS
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Some universities are re-implementing SAT/ACT score requirements for admissions considerations. Read one writer’s thoughts on Page 2!
March is Women’s History Month—head over to Page 3 to read about the significance of the month and more!
UIndy’s Black Student Association hosts an open mic night as part of Black History Month activities. Flip to Page 7 to read more about the event!
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