Berkeley Bridges

     Today the STEM Club went on an adventure to UC Berkeley! I was initially paranoid about losing one of the underclassmen on the BART train, but luckily catastrophe was avoided. However, riding through Oakland did provide some interesting entertainment including an acrobatic routine done to hip hop on the train car home.

     The Berkeley campus was quite beautiful today, which made me rethink my reservations about attending (assuming that I can even get in :P ) Our group signed up for a mechanical engineering workshop hosted by the Pioneers in Engineering association, in which Berkeley students welcomed us into the one of the many Engineering buildings on campus, and introduced the basics of prototyping and construction.

     Aside from learning techniques for power drilling and hack sawing, we were humorously lectured on the important of the "Engineering Notebook." As emphasized by our enthusiastic college mentor, the "Engineering Notebook" is akin to a diary, the holy grail of intellectual property. We were to design our bridge under strict protocol,  crossing out any white space and signing and dating each page with a witness. Although I doubt our balsa wood and wood screw creations would warrant an patent lawsuits, the gesture was sweet.

This bridge held 21 pounds and only weighed 8 ounces! 

     The student mentors were keen on the "building bridges" metaphor, and made sure that the workshop exposed us all to the field of engineering and its many applications. Although I had previous experience working with power tools, I had a fun time learning about bridge structures and trusses. In addition, the taste of college life was pretty satisfying. I definitely should pack a hammock to college.

     In an unexpected turn of events, I saw my friend who graduated Mills last year and currently attends Berkeley. He looked a little disappointed at being rejected from a bunch of elite clubs, confirming my fear of the competitive nature of the campus, but college life seemed to be treating him well. The shocking thing was how his Intro to CS class had 1700 students!

At the end of the day, I'm glad that the club members had a fun time at Berkeley.  I will continue to hope that no one gets lost on the way, and try to have faith in my limited responsibility skills.

We are truly building those "life bridges."

[some sort of salutation]
~Kaitlyn