Jackson Lesley Capstone Fellows Portfolio

Connections

INTRODUCTION

Within the classroom, I've experienced a variety of courses that have broadened my understanding of myself and the world including Modern South Asian History, Statics, and Media and Society. However, one of the most impactful courses for me thus far has been Introduction to Civil Engineering - ECIV 101, which was the first engineering course I took after switching my major at the start of my Sophomore year.

Beyond the classroom, I have had the opportunity to serve as both an Operations Mentor (OM) and an Extended Mentor (XM) for Pillars for Carolina - our university's extended orientation program for incoming freshmen and transfer students - over the past 2 years.

First STEM Career Fair Attendance for ECIV 101

Fall 2023

WITHIN THE CLASSROOM

During my first 2 semesters at USC, I struggled determining which major and career path I wanted to follow. I was initially accepted into the College of Pharmacy, and figured that I enjoyed the sciences enough to stay on that track for the 6 years it would require. However, as my first semester went on, I quickly realized that I had no real desire to pursue the pharmacy path, and spent my second semester trying to determine what I would like to switch my major to instead. I opted to take JOUR 101 - Media and Society, because I had an interest in that, and wanted to see if it would be a program that I would enjoy. Additionally, I took PHAR 401 - Introduction to Pharmacy in the US, to get more information on the field and potentially find some passion for the degree. Before the end of that Spring Semester I had determined that pharmacy just wasn't for me, but I really enjoyed my Journalism class, and decided to switch into USC's Journalism program.

And then the Summer came around and I had more time to really look into my options, and I decided to take a leap of faith in the Engineering program. Looking back on my decisions that Spring, I was running from the intimidating math courses that would be required in Engineering due to previous bad experiences with the different math courses and teachers in high school, even though it was my favorite subject to study before then. This led to my enrollment in Statics, Calculus II, and ECIV 101 for the upcoming Fall 2024 Semester just weeks before classes started.

Statics and Calculus II were a hard adjustment. It had been nearly 3 years since my last Calculus course, and balancing that with the difficulty of Statics was a lot to handle. ECIV 101 was a course that not only gave me a breather, but also introduced me to various career opportunities available to me if I decided to continue within the Civil Engineering major. The class was taught by 3 Engineering professors at the same time, each providing us with a different perspective from their respective fields. We spent the semester trying to learn how to think like Engineers, tasking us with different projects that had multiple solutions, and allowing us the freedom to find one that would be most effective for us. This type of thinking has carried into problem solving both with my ensuing engineering courses and my internship this summer.

In addition to learning to think like Engineers, we were taught about the different paths we could take within Civil Engineering, allowing us to have real ideas of what our futures in this career could look like. At that point in time, I knew nothing about where I wanted to direct myself for the future or how to get there once I figured it out. One of our assignments for the class was to attend the STEM Career Fair that took place that semester and write a short reflection about our experience, and I was able to meet people from a lot of engineering companies that helped me gain an understanding of what the process of getting hired for an internship would look like and overall just eased my mindset when approaching my future. I learned that I was less likely to figure out what discipline I wanted to pursue within Civil Engineering in my coursework than I was by just trying different paths out via internships and co-ops. Thanks to the confidence and experience I gained from attending the Career Fair in the fall, I was able to attend again in the Spring with an updated resume and a better understanding of how to talk to the recruiters. With this, I was hired for an internship during this upcoming summer at an engineering consulting firm where I am gaining a lot of experience in the processes that take place in the completion of projects, as well as technical experience in programs essential to design work as a Civil Engineer.

Hot Cookie Friday

Spring 2023

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Before the start of my freshman year, I attended the Capstone session of Pillars for Carolina. Still today I consider it one of the most impactful experiences of my life. I isolated myself a lot in high school and didn't get to make a lot of deep connections or do much beyond what I was already comfortable with, and Pillars took less than 4 days to rip me out of my shell. I went home at the end of the week a new person with new desires for my upcoming college experience.

This program helped me make so many connections within Capstone early on, and really defined my freshman year experience having already taught me about loads of the resources offered to students at USC to help us succeed. So I jumped at the chance to apply to be on its staff for the following Summer, and was lucky to be given the opportunity to be an OM. On top of being trained to be successful mentors for the incoming freshmen and transfer students, we were also trained to help maintain the flow of the activities throughout the week with communication between the mentor-led participants and our leadership team. This year, I have been lucky enough to have been hired on staff again, this time as an XM, where I will be leading a group of 10-15 participants with my partner.

I decided to apply during my Freshman year due to who Pillars helped me become as a result of the lessons I learned from my experiences during my participant week. I learned to embrace my emotions and really express myself to others in ways that I hadn't done before, and I desperately wanted to give back to the program that had so drastically impacted my perspective on who I wanted to be moving forward. My time as an OM during my week showed me a cumulation of the year I spent trying to apply those lessons with the friends I made along the way. I was open, vulnerable, passionate, and a willing participant in everything throughout the week, and I genuinely feel like we were able to make an extremely significant impact on most of the participants there that week, which is such a fulfilling feeling for me.

Pillars for Carolina Staff at Flick on the Field

Spring 2023

Pillars for Carolina OM Group

Spring 2024

This year, I decided to apply to be on staff yet again because I felt there was still more I wanted to give to the program and the people within it. I also knew there would be a lot of the previous Summer's participants that would be hired on staff this year, and I was excited to have the opportunity to work with them and watch them do what I set out to do my first year. Although my time as an XM isn't up yet, I've become a lot more secure in the person I've grown into over the last 2 years, and I think that has made me more capable in my role mentoring my group of students and working with my partner later this Summer.

Looking back on these experiences, I've learned that one of the most important factors in my growth and success has been the connections and friendships I've made. I don't look back to my week as a participant for inspiration or in gratitude as much as I used to, and I am consistently looking to all of my new friends when thinking of all that I've gained. That doesn't negate my personal growth that Pillars was a catalyst for - in fact I think it indicates more growth beyond the initial spurt - it just means I've learned to apply those lessons and embraced building relationships, which I believe is core to the Pillars experience that makes it so profoundly impactful.

CONNECTION

My work and time with Pillars for Carolina helped me build a supportive foundation both within and around myself for my first 2 years of college, along with knowledge of a lot of the resources offered at Carolina that I would use to find the best degree path for me. When I had switched into Civil Engineering, I had no knowledge of the resources accessible to me in the College of Engineering and Computing. I had no connections with the students in the program and knew none of the staff, or how to go about building my future in this major. Thankfully, one of the first classes I took in my new degree program was ECIV 101, where our professors met us where we were at and pushed us to explore the opportunities presented to us within the College. They walked us through attending the Career Fairs and resources to help build our resumes, and directing us towards student organizations in Engineering. It built on the broader resources that I had learned and heard so much about in my time with Pillars like the Career Center and finding student organizations, and provided a more focused trajectory for us to follow to benefit us the most in our degree paths. My foundation of Pillars for Carolina combined with the direction of ECIV 101 has given me the confidence to explore professional avenues that I hadn't expected to be possible a year ago. I was able to use the resources I learned so much about to get involved in student Engineering organizations, build a better resume, and get hired for my first internship this summer after making connections at the STEM Career Fair.

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