Alumni Are Appreciated - A Student's Perspective
By Lance M. Langer
When I think about what makes the CEE department stand out here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a number of things come to mind: the many awesome student societies, the CEE Networking Nights and Job Fairs, the great research opportunities, the outstanding curriculum, the hardworking students and the amazing faculty working together to help make it all happen.
There are numerous ways for students to get involved here, and all of these opportunities will help us grow to someday become successful people in our fields, wherever we decide to go in life. As a student within the CEE department, I take advantage of as many of these opportunities as possible. I attend a lot of the events the department organizes for the students and I’ve noticed that the common denominator for most of them is alumni involvement.
No one understands the CEE student experience better than the CEE at Illinois alumni. They are more capable of connecting with the students than anyone else, because they have been in our shoes. These personal connections are important! Our shared connection makes engaging in a meaningful conversation much easier because we already have something great in common: we both know what student life on campus and within the department is like.
As students, we all have at least one thing in common: the desire to graduate from this department. However, some of us are a little unsure about what we would like to do afterwards, where we would like to go or even how to get there. One great benefit from interacting with alumni is that they have been in our exact situation before and can offer tremendous help and advice when it comes to taking the next step in our careers and in life. Through mentoring students, presenting at seminars, speaking to classes, attending student-sponsored activities and supporting student organizations, alumni pass on their wisdom and provide students with an idea of how to move forward into their careers.
I believe the greatest thing about the active alumni within the department, and the thing I appreciate most, is their willingness to help the students out. Whether they can give you advice directly or put you in contact with someone who can, they always are there to support the progress we attempt to make as students. I feel that the alumni are great role models. And I think I speak for all of the students in CEE when I say it’s a lot easier to talk to company representatives at the CEE Job Fairs who are also alumni.
As a student, I appreciate our alumni who are actively involved in making the CEE at Illinois experience an amazing thing to be a part of. One day I hope to have as much to contribute as an involved alumnus of CEE at Illinois.