High School Visit- Holy Ghost Prep- Matt Krott (sophomore, Mechanical Engineering)

On November 5, 2010, six of us made history. Rohit, Matt, Alan, Josh, Nick, and I participated in a high school visit to Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem, PA on that day. In doing so, we became the first males in the short history of the Engineering Ambassadors to participate in a high school visit. Just thinking about this fact makes me feel incredibly honored to be a part of this group. Three years from now when I am a senior and can look back and see how far the Ambassadors have grown, I will be able to pinpoint this as a huge step forward for our team.

The faculty and students at Holy Ghost were fantastic hosts to us throughout the day. I think I speak for the rest of the guys when I say that it was well worth the long journey from State College to show students some of the more interesting real-world applications of the material they are learning in their math, science, and chemistry classes. It was also really cool to sit down one on one with some of the students at lunch and talk about engineering. Seeing so many students with a genuine interest in engineering is remarkable in itself, but having the chance to influence them positively and help them realize their goals is infinitely more awesome.

The learning definitely was not a one-way process though. For one thing, I learned plenty just by watching with what the other ambassadors had to show the students. (You’d be surprised how much math there is behind the internet phenomenon that is the “double rainbow song.”) Plus, we had the opportunity to discuss engineering with the Holy Ghost faculty, a few of which were former engineers themselves, as well as Mr. John Brennan, a Penn State nuclear engineering alum who initially contacted us about doing the visit.

Now, you might think that being stuck in a minivan for four hours (twice) with a bunch of engineering students sounds like torture. In reality, it turned out to be a great bonding experience for all of us. On the way back, we even had a nice lengthy discussion in which I was compared to a non-Newtonian fluid. (Okay, maybe that’s a little nerdy, but it was hilarious at the time). Special thanks to Mr. Pappadakis and everyone else at Holy Ghost who helped make this happen. Hopefully, we will be able to return in the future to shape the next batch of young engineers!

-Matt Krott