The Lindsay Brothers Level Up

Grant:
A lot of my favorite memories are playing video games with Landon. We would spend most of our summers at our grandma's house up until the eighth grade. She had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) that she played occasionally, and we were eventually able to play it. There were a lot of competitive games on the SNES, so we played Super Mario Kart, NBA Jam and Street Fighter II Turbo. Eventually, we both got Nintendo DSs and played Mario Kart DS, Star Wars II and Pokémon Black and White. Some of my favorite memories are progressing through Pokémon Black and White and playing Minecraft together.

Landon:
During visits to our grandmother’s house, we would spend hours playing games with our older cousins, just bonding together. I remember years ago, my brother’s and my Nintendo DS had voice memos from when we would hang out at home or go to karate class together. Our mother had signed us both up for karate, and she was in a class right after ours. While we waited, we would try out all the sound effects on the voice recording app and run around while playing keep away and other games.

Grant: 
I was better at math and science than any other subject in school. I didn’t have a strong interest in any other subject since the amount of creativity was limited. One activity I used to do a lot was collecting and building Lego bricks. My dad helped me build some of my first Lego sets, which I still have, even though a couple of pieces are missing. I enjoyed building them so much because there were no limits on what you could make. I used to make new vehicles and houses from older Lego sets that I couldn’t rebuild from memory. I believe that those experiences set me on the path to engineering.

Photo Credit: Grant and Landon Lindsay

Landon:
Growing up, I was always a creative and curious child. I loved to read, and my imagination would run wild when I used Lego and building blocks. I vividly recall creating storylines with my stuffed animals, which would have their own personalities.

I believe the way our father taught us to think inspired our curiosity—at least, mine. He always encouraged us to be curious and find things out for yourselves. In almost every scenario, he would sit us down and explain to us why certain things made sense—why you never should take out a loan from the bank, or why a car would need an oil change. From simple to complex, his desire to explain how things worked drove my desire for knowledge to grow (and, I would think, my brother’s desire as well, as he still asks questions to this day). From there, that curiosity became associated with creativity and building. For Grant, it was related to structures, but for me, it was related to machines.

Grant:
In high school, I didn't know what engineering was. However, I did know that I wanted to incorporate my passion for designing and building into the major I chose. As I got closer to junior year and starting college applications, my mom suggested that I look into engineering. At first, I wanted to go into architectural engineering because I saw how I could apply my creativity. After doing more research, I discovered that civil engineering encompassed aspects of architectural engineering while offering a broader scope. When I first started driving after getting my license, I realized that there were numerous potholes all over the roads. At that time, I wanted to try to fix or at least mitigate that problem. Thus, I decided to major in civil engineering.

When I was deciding what engineering schools to apply to, I wanted to stay relatively close to home. After researching Illinois Grainger Engineering, the school was at the top of my list, especially due to the caliber of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering program.

Landon:
I think the realization occurred to me sometime in my sophomore year of high school. My brother had been accepted to Illinois for civil engineering, and while I knew that our interests were similar, something about working with structures and buildings didn’t seem right to me. After all, I had spent most of my days working with my father on machines and creative projects, not roads and bridges.

Mechanical engineering was right up my alley. 

Engineering seemed intimidating at first, especially mechanical engineering, which is seen as one of the hardest majors to pursue. Going to Schaumburg Christian School, a private school, part of me wasn’t sure that I would have the resources needed to succeed. There weren’t robotics extracurriculars or coding classes like at some other schools. However, after hearing about Grant’s experiences at Illinois with mentors at MEP, the teaching assistants’ in-office hours or the resources he found through his friends, I understood that Grainger Engineering would prepare me if I put in the work. 

It is a top engineering school for a reason, and I’ve certainly seen why in my time on campus. I have dived into classes that have opened new possibilities for my creativity, like creating engineering drawings for human-centered design projects, designing 3D-modeled water casings for a model dam and running cost analysis for different types of laser cutters. I believe that product design for mechanical engineering is a sure-fire path to achieving my goals in life.

Grant:
Civil engineering was the right fit for me because it allowed me to apply my love for designing and building while being creative. Furthermore, it has allowed me to learn about the “why” and “how” behind design and construction. For example, when I’m walking on campus and see a random hole in the ground with an excavator next to it or a pavement panel of a parking lot removed, I'll try to figure out what's going on and why. Things like that are extremely fascinating to me. After taking technical classes, I understand “why” and “how” better and try to apply that to anything civil engineering related that I see. 

After graduating, I will be joining Gannett Fleming TranSystems as a Highway Civil Engineer. I’m looking forward to this role because of my past internship experiences and the classes I have recently taken, such as Pavement Design I and Geometric Design of Roads.

Landon:
I see myself thriving in mechanical engineering because it is a way to apply my creativity to benefit those around me. When I was younger, and even recently, my father would love to fix things himself. He would say “It doesn’t make sense to spend hundreds of dollars on something I could learn myself.” And in doing so, he would ask for my assistance. We would work on our fridge, microwave, car radio – and basement – for any project that needed more than one pair of hands, I was the first person he called. The more projects we worked on, the more I became interested in machines and their materials, makeup and purpose. 

Coupled with my desire to create and design, this interest inspires me to work within the mechanical engineering industry to create better products. “Better” is, of course, subjective, but I want to assist people. God has blessed me with creativity and a boldness to speak up for what I believe in. I want to use these gifts, to impact people’s lives positively. After college, I want to step into the field of product design and help develop and iterate new machines and processes to reduce the cost and stress of those going about their day-to-day activities around me. There are many steps along that path, and Illinois is building the staircase I need to rise to the occasion.

Grant:
Programs like MEP and NSBE have played a pivotal role in my college experience, and I’m incredibly thankful for them. MEP has been a support system for me throughout my time here and is one of the main reasons why I chose to come to Illinois. The early move-in program, EMBARK, started my college journey on the right foot by allowing me to make friends and connections before starting classes. One of those friends, Elisa Carrillo inspired me to start an RSO for minorities in civil and environmental engineering called EMBRACE. Overall, it's a welcoming environment and everyone helps each other succeed. It's a community that is truly there for you and reminds you that you don’t have to go through college by yourself. 

I wasn’t significantly involved in NSBE during my freshman and sophomore years. However, I decided to apply for the Pre/Post Collegiate Initiative Chair, and I got the position. I became more involved during my junior year, and that's when I realized that NSBE was more than just an engineering RSO. It's an amazing community of Black engineers that lets you know that you belong in engineering. It can sometimes be difficult to envision yourself in an engineering field or class when you don’t see people who look like you or know people from similar backgrounds. That’s what NSBE is for, and it’s helped me grow as a person, an engineer and a leader. It’s been great to see how much the Illinois chapter has grown and developed since my freshman year. 

I decided to run for other board positions in engineering RSOs and became the mentorship chair for the UIUC American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) chapter and the Secretary for the UIUC Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) chapter.

Landon:
Each RSO has allowed me to find a home away from home. I don’t think of them as obligations or needs, but as involvements that I want to continue pursuing to make connections. Of course, there are academic benefits to clubs like ASME and NSBE, but what makes stay in these clubs is the sense of family and inclusivity they inspire in me. It’s a place to make friends, colleagues, and people that you can create long-lasting bonds with, whether your interest is in late-night skateboarding, swim meets or projects related to your major. These clubs are an outlet for stress as well as a resource for support. I can’t count the number of times I’ve shared my academic struggles with friends from NSBE, ASME, and InterVarsity. Without some of them, my freshman year wouldn’t have been as enjoyable, spontaneous, easygoing or impactful, and I’m sure that incoming students will feel the same once they give them a try.

Grant:
It’s been awesome spending a part of our college career together. It feels like a continuation of high school but on a larger scale. Sometimes, I’ll see him skating

down the street, and he’ll stop and walk the rest of the way with me. I’ve been giving him a lot of advice on things that I didn’t do or wish I had known during my freshman and sophomore years. 

My favorite shared memory is the 2023 NSBE Regional Conference in Chicago. That trip was a lot of fun with our NSBE chapter, but one part that stood out was going to this food place called Big Chicken. A group of us walked there, and the food was good. We all took a picture and sent it to the group chat. After that, I referenced Big Chicken any time someone mentioned getting food during that trip.

Landon:
It then just became a joke between those of us there, and every time Grant said it for a month afterwards, I would not stop laughing. I think times like that linger in my head more often than I’d like to admit. 

At our previous school, I would always have the nickname of “Grant’s younger brother.” I couldn’t walk down a hallway without someone recognizing me as such, and for a while, it was something I didn't appreciate. As time went on, though, I realized how much of a blessing it was to be together on an academic journey. Two years ago, college was an extremely new experience, as it was my first new school since Schaumburg Christian, but it felt like I was back at home. I could go talk to Grant whenever, and while he wasn’t a hallway away, I knew he would help me out whether I needed academic encouragement, navigation around campus, or a snack from his room.

Soon, he’ll be off on his own somewhere in the state, but I’m glad to be able to enjoy and embrace one last year being “Grant’s younger brother” on campus.

Grant:
My advice would be to pursue what you’re passionate about and to just go for it, whether that be an idea, plan, or vision. However, the more you think about it and are hesitant, that opportunity may be gone by the time you’re ready to pursue it. He’s already accomplished more compared to when I was a freshman and a sophomore. I’m extremely proud to call him my brother. I hope he enjoys the rest of his time at Illinois and makes the most of it because the last half goes by fast. I also hope that he finds his niche within his major. I can already see that he’s on the path to finding his niche within mechanical engineering.