Words From Our President: Tyler Crockett
Applied Engineers are a collection of extremely intelligent and ambitious individuals who rise to the top of whatever industry they step foot in. The Society of Applied Engineering Sciences (SAES) stands out from other clubs in its ability to boast such an impressive collection of students. I have been trying to tell people since I first arrived in East Lansing, I truly do not think there is a single person majoring in Applied Engineering Sciences (AES) at Michigan State that I wouldn’t enjoy talking to and spending time with. Nowhere else have I found people capable of providing engaging conversation and also making it through 4 semesters of calculus. I had a teacher in high school who would always say “iron sharpens iron.” There is no better way to describe why SAES is so special; we are a group of highly unique and talented students growing and learning together.
I am one of the AES majors that always knew it was the major for me. Out of high school, I wanted to be doing anything that let me talk to people as often as possible after college. However, I have also always been an engineer at heart. Being an engineer at heart is to be someone who gets excited when there is a problem ahead, at the opportunity to solve it and make life just a touch better. It doesn’t matter what you do, you find the excitement in your life by solving problems. When I fell in love with AES, though, was when I realized that the diverse range of courses we are required to take provided me with a strong sense of confidence and comfortability figuring out how to solve completely foreign problems/topics. What makes this so valuable is that every internship will present their intern with a project/set of tasks that they have never seen/heard of before, and to be confident in your approach to solving that is everything! AES gives students that confidence to crush an internship, and then to kill it once they step into the real world.
Having the opportunity to act as president of SAES is almost surreal to me. Two years ago, at the end of my freshman year, Dr. G forwarded an email to all AES students from SAES inviting any and all students to apply to be on the SAES E-Board. I can’t exactly explain why this scared me at first, maybe it was the fact that I was only a freshman, maybe it was the fact that I really wasn’t all too familiar with the club, or maybe I just wasn’t sure if I was capable of being in a role of responsibility. I ended up convincing myself to apply and getting the role of Director of Public Relations for my sophomore year. I had no clue this would all snowball into being named president as a Junior, but it truly is a testament that you never know what will happen if you simply trust yourself and take the first step towards reaching your goals.
There is no doubt in my mind that I would never have landed my internship this past summer working for Trane Technologies if it were not for SAES. I learned the skills it takes to network in the form of opportunities to speak to companies (which I fumbled countless times before getting it right), tips from members and the E-Board (that’s right, I was learning from members as a part of the E-Board), and connections made at SAES events. Members of SAES this year will be getting all the resources and information the E-Board, MSU’s Center of Engineering, and the very experienced AES alumni board have to offer from a professional development standpoint. This is because I want to help each and every member get to where they want to be in their careers!
This coming year, SAES will be focusing on 3 key objectives:
- Exhaust all resources to provide members with the highest quality professional development assistance
- Promote awareness of Applied Engineering, SAES, and what makes both so special
- Cultivate a stronger community of Applied Engineering students
Myself, alongside the rest of our amazing E-Board worked all summer long in order to make sure we didn’t just set these goals and forget about them. We have heavily leaned on our very active alumni board and the center of engineering at MSU to help us create professional development resources students can keep on their phones. A big increase in social events during the fall semester was the result of conversations regarding how we could promote the major/club. Lastly, this year's executive board is passionate, qualified, and extremely strong in their social skills. It is because of this talented group that I am beyond confident in our ability to bring AES majors together, aligning this amazing major towards growth and success!
I am excited to get on campus this year and begin getting to know each and every SAES member! SAES stock is on the rise, join us as we grow to new heights this year!
-- Tyler Crockett, SAES President
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
