5) CIEMAS
For those of you unfamiliar with e-quad, CIEMAS is the beautiful glass faced building that graces the quad with its elegant presence. Erected in 2004 and named for the Fitzpatrick Family (Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences), CIEMAS has everything from offices and labs to study spaces and meeting rooms. While all of this sounds pretty standard for a university building, CIEMAS rises above some of the other buildings in the Gothic Wonderland through its intelligent combination of function and design. Floor space in the atrium? Accommodates workbenches. Glass bridges connecting floors of the building? Lined with seating space for those who wish to take in the majesty of our humble quad. And for bonus points, it’s far enough out of the way for Trinity folk that you can almost always find a space to work.
Best: The shear size of the damn building.
Worst: Say goodbye to cell phone service.
4) E-socials
To be completely honest, I may be a bit biased in regards to e-socials as I am a member of ESG, the organization that hosts the weekly event. Despite my association, there are so many fantastic things about e-socials that even the objective observer would understand my inclusion of the gathering on this list. What motivates a group of students to come to an event more quickly than the promise of free t-shirts? Free food, and at e-socials, there is food in abundance. Engineers of all disciplines join together in merrymaking at these illustrious events, testing their knowledge in games of trivia and joining in jovial conversation with comrades. Sure, the event seems nerdy on the outside, but who are we to judge? Plus, once every semester, e-picnic occurs and the festivities really begin. The aforementioned free t-shirts that draw students like bees to honey make an appearance featuring now famous captions such as “Teer Pong”, “AristroPratt”, and my personal favorite, “Engineers always use Latex”. A live band plays in the background, and there is so much food, Jonah (your food baby) will be with you for the rest of the evening. It’s an event by engineers for engineers.
Best: When you are 21, they serve free beer!
Worst: Watching all of your friends who are over 21 drinking free beer…
3) Twinnies
Twinnies is a Pratt staple so ingrained in our common culture that it is legendary across campus. Walk into the first floor of CIEMAS and wait in line as Jack and the rest of the staff feed your caffeine addiction and pesky food needs with cheer and finesse. Twinnies will see you at your best and your worst; from the unholy hour of 8AM when you’re wishing for your bed to mid-afternoon when you’re feeling like the punching bags in Rocky, Twinnies will be there helping you fight the good fight of staying awake and well-fed. The cafe is so notorious across campus that you can even catch the occasional Trinity student skulking around for the good eats. Don’t be alarmed – they will quickly be on their way fleeing conversations about fluid dynamics and enzyme kinetics.
Best: The desserts! Particularly the lemon bars.
Worst: The cold air that rushes in and removes all notions of warmth from your limbs every time someone opens ANY of the doors during spring semester.
2) Your Biddies
You had to know they would be on this list. One of the best parts of being an engineer in such a small school is getting to know your classmates. You begin by struggling through EGR53 together and by the end, you know that all of these people will have your back. It starts as doing homework together and it turns into late hours messing around (and doing homework). Few elements of the engineering experience at Duke can rival the people you meet and the friendships that grow from your academic encounters.
Best: Meeting some of the best people you will ever know.
Worst: Realizing you’ve been talking about Game of Thrones for the past twenty minutes and now none of you can focus on that problem set due tomorrow morning…
1) Doing something you LOVE (unless you’re a masochist)
Despite all the fun we have as engineers, there is no denying that choosing to major in one of the four disciplines offered by Pratt is challenging. You work long hours, have lab all the time, and sometimes feel like the academic powers that be have conspired to make it impossible for you to sleep during some weeks of the semester. What makes it worth it though? The simple fact that we love what we do. At the end of the day, after all of the work, we feel fulfilled; we have learned something valuable and get to apply what we’ve learned to solve some pretty incredible and unique problems. All the hard work we’ve put in has paid off. Almost nothing feels better than coming to the end of a challenging class and realizing that regardless of the grade you’ve recieved you’ve done it; you’ve mastered complex material and can now use it. If you don’t get this feeling, if you’re not loving what you do, then why would you want to be an engineer?
Best: It’s in the title.
Worst: I’ll let you know when I come up with one :)
You go Prattstars. You go.