The Local Inspiration for Future Engineers club is one of the many BYU Engineering clubs that focuses on outreach. As they visit Provo classrooms and teach students what it means to be an engineer, some club members remember what impact these visits could have had on them as young students.
Jaime Mejia, previous club president and electrical engineering major, grew up wanting to be an engineer because of his dad, who he admires for his hard work as a home maintenance worker and handyman. He was raised with the belief that with the right mindset and willingness to learn, he could do anything hard.
Being able to visit schools and nurture that same ambition for hard work and STEM problem-solving, even reaching the kids who speak Spanish like him, provides great fulfillment for him.
“I was just imagining little Jaime and what he was thinking if someone were to come up to him and take the time to make him feel like he belongs,” Mejia said.
The inspiration that LIFE club intends to provide adds to more than community. When kids are given focused attention for their learning needs, they are able to reach greater learning potential.
“Maybe it's just that they never get these opportunities to really want to explore more as to what education can bring to them, what they could possibly do, their potential,” Mejia said. “We let them know that, hey, you can do this. It's not impossible.”
For another club member, Sam Christensen, confidence in the impact of the club comes easy because of his own experiences as a high-schooler.
“Anytime I had those experiences with the guy who was like, let me show you an electron microscope, or when you have those cool little experiences with technology, that gave me a lot more motivation to pursue it as a career,” Christensen said.
Members of LIFE club meet to go over material they will teach the elementary-schoolers. Then, they make visits about twice a month to various schools around Utah Valley. They also enjoy socials and the occasional booth at local STEM fairs.
When visiting schools, the goal is to nurture a desire to learn and explore. Bryce Haslam, current LIFE club president, says it comes much more naturally than he initially expected.
“As humans, we're just curious. We want to learn, want to understand, and it's been really fun teaching these kids because a lot of them already kind of knew it,” Haslam said. “It's been really cool to see that engineering is really something that you can develop, but it was almost already there.”
Haslam and other club members are trying to nurture that engineering interest in a wider audience with a new addition to their club efforts. On their podcast, What Do Engineers Do?, they interview engineers about their experiences, from PhD students to established industry professionals.
Their hope is to reach BYU college students, as well as anyone in the broader community who just wants to learn how engineering works.
“This club's goal is to inspire the local rising generation by showing them what engineers do and hopefully helping them to want to be an engineer someday because engineers are vital to our society,” Haslam said. “They really are kind of our modern superheroes.”
The feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive, with parents and teachers inviting the club back repeatedly. For Christensen and Mejia, their experiences have even inspired them to pursue teaching engineering one day.
Christensen wants to return to high school physics as a teacher after spending some time as a professional engineer because of his experiences interacting with the next generation.
“It's so invigorating because they're all so excited for you to be there. They're all just, like, whoa, you guys are building the future,” Christensen said. “Providing that hands on experience and just how excited the kids get, it was surprising to me how electrifying it is and how you just kind of fall into the groove of riffing with kids, you're teaching them about something, you’re moving to the next group, making sure the quieter ones are getting engaged. You're all in it. You're very present.”
The LIFE club achieved more than double their usual visits this past year and looks to continue to increase the scope of their impact. Christensen encourages anyone in a STEM discipline to come participate.
“It feeds your soul to help kids grow and progress, and in the process of that, you also grow and progress in your understanding of yourself,” Christensen said. “The return on investment from the LIFE Club, in terms of the time that you put in to the impact that you have on other people's lives, is unmatched.”
