#michiganengineering

We’ve only been here for three days and it already feels like we’ve been here for weeks. We’re starting to acclimate to the tropical heat after our cold(?) Michigan winter. Today, we split the day in half again and spent the morning at a hospital and the afternoon at a clinic. In the Dominican Republic, the health system is similar to ours but also very different. In more rural areas, people go to level one clinics and get basic healthcare, and if their needs are more complex, they are referred to specialists or sent to the public hospitals.

Some of us are used to getting up early to start our day, so when we left for the maternity hospital this morning, our grogginess was matched with excitement. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the hospital’s facilities which service half of the mothers and children of Santo Domingo. There, we saw Kangaroo Mother Care in action, intensive care units busy with patients, and overflowing archives that showed the amazing number of people they have helped. A nurse answered all of our questions about pre and post natal care and the different devices they use.

Next, we headed to the other side of Santo Domingo and went up the hills to the San Miguel Clinic. We were so impressed with the variations of care that one five-room clinic could provide to thousands of people using only limited resources. With simple tools, the doctor could diagnose an array of conditions, and every doctor in the Dominican Republic spends a year at one of these first-level clinics getting hands-on experience with all kinds of people.

Graduating from U of M feels surreal - sitting in the big house, walking across the stage and hugging Dean Munson, hearing all the congratulatory words. Sitting in the stadium, I felt a great sense of pride in my accomplishments unlike anything I've felt before.  4 years of busing to and from north campus and working through frustrating homework assignments has paid off.  I've built a community of people here that will continue to support me throughout my next steps. I've made friends who are going to all the corners of the US and I've learned to think critically about everything I hear. I've learned a lot more here at U of M then how to find the optimal solution to a problem or code an algorithm. The foundation I've built will help me to tackle the problems I face for the rest of my life.

I'll miss lots of things about college - the freedom, the people, the hunger for learning - but this sadness is overshadowed by the excitement I have for the adventures to come. I'm looking forward to seeing the people I know grow and seeing what they achieve in their lives. I'm looking forward to collaborating with them in the future. But most of all, I'm happy to have spent this time at U of M. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Next, I'll be adventuring throughout Europe and moving to San Jose, CA to start my career as an IT Engineer at Cisco Systems, Inc. GO BLUE!

#Mgineer

August 28th, 2013

On my last birthday, I could have never imagined that exactly one year from that day that I would be spending it in Nairobi. Not only did I travel abroad for the first time and got to see part of the Motherland, I got to spend time working for an amazing cause with equally amazing people—with my E-MAGINE fam. I'm so grateful for working with some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for to successfully set up an internet system in an orphanage off the grid, and work to make their usage of it shape their futures. Those words together sound so ideal that it sounds like the synopsis of a novel, and I don't think I'll ever have the words to express how well my time here defined perfection. This trip has been my best birthday gift yet, and I can't wait until life blesses with me another one of these, because I'll be hitting the U.S soil on Friday a changed man for sure with plenty of stories to tell. Below is the engineering team's journey... I hope you enjoy reading what I experienced during my time there: Chapter 0: The Journey Begins

Chapter 1: Day One

Chapter 2: Getting Our Hands Dirty

Chapter 3: E-MAGINE "Grocery" Shopping Chapter 4: Down, But Far From Out (Dream Deferred) Chapter 5: The Dream Realized

Bonus: Tour of the Hardware Factory in Meru

Also, check out E-MAGINE's additional blogs! Official E-MAGINE Tumblr

It may be covered in mud, but it's for good reason... the U-M Baja Racing team took first in the Mike Schmidt Memorial Iron Man award, which is basically the championship award for the whole baja series.