Work Hard, Play Hard: Presenting at the Engineers Without Borders USA National Conference
By Riley Wagner
It’s hard to believe that over two months have past since we were last in Peru. The long days working in the community of Pusunchas have been replaced with long nights working on problem sets and cramming for exams. While I am enjoying eating food other than chicken, potatoes, and rice, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss it all.
Since arriving back on campus, we have been in full-on transition mode. This means a lot of our time has been dedicated to recruiting and orienting new members, completing the necessary post-trip documentation and undergoing a change in leadership. Sneha and Sofia are still heavily involved with the team, however all good things must come to an end, including their time as PM’s. Sydney and I have taken over the role of Project Managers and we have a whole new set of subteam leaders who are already working hard on the tasks for this upcoming year!
Earlier this month, several of the travel team members traveled to San Francisco to present our project at the Engineers Without Borders National Conference. Sneha, Sofia, Nicholas, Camille and I, along with a few members from the Dominican Republic team, were all in attendance. It was a bit challenging with all of the logistics, particularly because missing 72 hours here at Princeton is like missing two weeks in the real world, so I think we are all still in the process of catching-up. That being said, I am happy to share that the trip was a great success and it was well-worth it.
We flew out Thursday evening, attended the conference Friday and Saturday, flew back Saturday night and were back on campus to lead the EWB meeting on Sunday. During the conference, we were able to attend workshops and seminars that were relevant to our project as well as others that were more broadly interesting. The seminars covered topics ranging from membership recruitment to using drones for agroecology focused EWB projects, providing information on all aspects of project development and giving all members in attendance plenty of food for thought after the conference. It was inspiring to hear about the projects that teams are working on in order to improve the quality of life across the world and it was helpful to connect with other chapters working on similar projects.
When it came time for us to present, there was a constant flow of students and professionals alike interested in our project asking a wide variety of questions that helped the whole team reflect on our project thus far as well as its broader implications for the future of Pusunchas. We handed out over one hundred fliers and our poster came in second place in the poster competition!
Camille and I explaining the intricacies of the project.
The representatives of EWB-Princeton.
Now in true EWB spirit, this weekend did include a bit of time for some more fun endeavours. Evenings were spent exploring downtown SF and trying new restaurants and ice cream shops. On one of the mornings, we all woke up at 5am to go watch the sunrise at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was absolutely freezing and we were all exhausted, but the views were breathtaking.
Following the end of the conference, we still had a bit of time, so we went to the beach to watch the sunset. Some of the more adventurous members of the group even used the last few daylight hours to go surfing in the Pacific, evidently one of the items on their bucket lists.
For many of us, it was our first time in San Francisco and a couple had never even been to the west coast, meaning they subsequently had never tried the “delicacy” that is the In-N-Out Burger. Now, we have no official connection to the chain (however if anyone from the corporate network is reading this, our Financial and Corporate Outreach team would love to talk with you about a potential sponsorship!), but it just might have been my personal highlight of the trip. The milkshake, burger, and fries were the perfect way to end our time in the Golden City!
I also want to end with a special thank you to the following organizations for their support of this project:
Princeton Environmental Institute
Princeton University Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR)
Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment