Engineering a Friendship: How Two Students Found Connection and Community at Grainger Engineering

Jaya:
I took a four-year course in high school called Project Lead the Way. We did a lot of different things with mechanics and breadboarding, and I liked the hands-on aspect of engineering and all the problem solving. I knew that's what I wanted to go into.

Divya:
I was first introduced to engineering when I was about 10 or 11. My dad has an electrical engineering background, so he showed me his breadboard and made a light bulb turn on. That's when I knew that engineering was very hands-on and that I wanted to study it in my future.

Jaya:
I knew Grainger Engineering had a really good bioengineering program, so that's how I knew I wanted to come here. Along with engineering, I liked biology and the sciences. I thought by combining them I could one day help build devices to save people's lives.

Divya: 
I came to Grainger Engineering because I kind of wanted to attend an out-of-state college. It's the one time in my life where I can explore somewhere new, and I knew that the bioengineering program was ranked pretty high, too. I also wanted to study bioengineering to make an impact on patients directly. So, I knew that I was in good hands.

Jaya:
I attended the Women in Engineering orientation my freshman year, and I briefly met Divya there. But when I really met her was when I wanted to switch my general education course to  French 156: Exploring Paris at the last minute.  I remember this so clearly; I was walking to the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, and I was like "Oh my gosh, I don't know anyone else going there." Then I saw her on the other side of the street with her Starbucks drink walking to class, and I thought that girl looked familiar. We both got to Engineering Hall a little early, so we sat next to each other. We talked briefly about meeting at WIE orientation and then learned that we were both taking Chem 105 and Exploring Paris.

I knew that our personalities were very similar, like being very outgoing and trying a lot of new things. I think just the fact that there were so many gen eds and Engineering 100 classes, I happened to pick the ones that we both attended. I knew this girl and I were going be friends for a while. 

Divya:
It was that day when we were going to our first Engineering 100 class. I said, "You have the same exact schedule as me." It was kind of crazy, especially considering that there were so many other classes we could have taken back then. 

I also feel like Jaya is someone that I related to a lot during freshman year, and I still do, especially with our culture. We also lived in the same dorm building, so we would see each other basically every day and study together. We also went to the gym together, and that's when I knew that I was going to be friends with her. 

Jaya:
As a freshman, I got involved with Illinois Medical Advancements through Design and Engineering. It's a club that takes up local projects from local clients to essentially build small-scale medical devices. During sophomore year, I was more involved with the Biomedical Engineering Society, where I was on their outreach committee. 

I started off on the fundraising committee for the Society of Women Engineers and stuck with it. In my sophomore year, I was one of SWE's technical co-directors where our team took a project from a corporate sponsor and worked on a project with them. Now I'm on the executive board with Divya. I was also involved with Illini Raas, which is like a competitive dance team. That was a really cool experience my sophomore year.

Divya:
I got involved with SWE as a chair on the fundraising committee both freshman and sophomore years. I was a fundraising director my junior year on the officer board. Now I'm the treasurer, and Jaya is the external vice president, so we work closely together. 

Another RSO I've been involved in since freshman year is BMES. At first, I was a general member and would go to their events. My sophomore year, I was an Engineering Open House advisor with the BMES projects and checked in with all the project managers. Now I'm on the EOH committee with the Engineering Council, which plans the whole event. It's a lot of work, but I'm with 30 other people, and we all have very different roles. It's been really fun.

Jaya:
Something that we enjoy doing together, starting our freshman year, is running. SWE holds an annual 5K run/walk every year, so we've run in that together. We also ran the 10K for Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon last year, and that was super fun. One of our favorite experiences was last November when we went to Chicago with a couple of our friends to do the 10K at the SKECHERS Hot Chocolate Run Series. It was a little bit rainy, but then it turned super sunny. It was so fun afterwards when we all got to drink hot chocolate and enjoy some post-race snacks before traveling around the city. 

Divya:
I really enjoyed being in SWE with Jaya this year. We've become close, and I feel like we've gotten to know the rest of the officer board. Through SWE, we went to New Orleans last October with the entire officer board. It was great to go for the conference but also just to explore a new city together for the first time. We'd also gone to Chicago for the Hot Chocolate Run, like Jaya mentioned, but we also went right before winter break for just a cute little Chicago trip with our other friends. It's been really good just getting to explore new places with Jaya. We do run a lot!

Jaya:
Try as many new things as possible, whether that's trying more restaurants on Green Street or trying more classes like Divya does at the Activities and Recreation Center. 

Divya:
Don't say no to anything. Like Jaya, I just want to try as many new things as I can while spending good times with friends. I think Jaya and I have been doing a good job with that so far. We ran the half Illinois Marathon for the first time, so that was scary but good.

Jaya:
I'm going to be working as a manufacturing engineer at Boston Scientific in Maple Grove, Minnesota, which is a suburb of Minneapolis. In terms of how the bioengineering department helped me, I feel like it built a good set of cross-functional skills. As bioengineers, we touch a lot of different things: biology, chemistry, breadboarding and physics. It makes you very well prepared to take on any new task and will help me as a manufacturing engineer going forward as well. 

Divya:
I have a job offer up in Madison, Wisconsin, so that'll be good. I think receiving a major from Grainger Engineering, specifically bioengineering, has given us a good foundation of engineering in general. We can take that experience and put it into our future work when we go into industry. I also think my bioengineering advisors, Maddie Darling and Dave Rogalski, were helpful in mapping out my four-year plan when I was choosing classes. I met with both frequently. 

Jaya:
Before he moved to a different position, I went to Undergraduate Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor Jake Spinnato for appointments. He encouraged me to apply to the Hoeft Technology and Management Program, which I was accepted into. So, I definitely want to give him a shoutout. 

Jaya:
In terms of making friends, I recommend really putting yourself out there even if you're not confident at first. I know Quad Day can always be overwhelming because you're like, "I don't know anyone else going, so I don't want to go." I'm sure there's another person who's thinking the same thing, and if both of you go, then you can become friends. 

Divya:
My advice for incoming students would be to say yes to everything. Go to Quad Day and sign up for those RSOs that you're even a little bit interested in.