What's up with Olin Clubs? Part One

At Olin, students do a little bit of everything! Once classes are done for the day you can find Oliners rushing to a variety of clubs and extracurriculars.

You’ll find students in the Norden Auditorium rehearsing for our fall production (it’s currently Carrie: The Musical); going to a meeting for the Multicultural Innovators Experience organization; or working in the shop for our Baja project team building an off-road vehicle.  

Now, hear from some Oliners about their favorite clubs.....

"Hello, I’m Malvina and I’m a current third year student at Olin. In the beginning of my first year, I often felt out of place comparing myself with all my classmates. It seemed to me like I was the only one who wasn’t passionate about robots, or cars, or had incredibly strong opinions on operating systems. I had come to Olin enthusiastic about the possibilities of engineering but saw knowledge of mechanical systems and programming more as means to an end rather than the end itself. For me, the fun part of engineering was the application to create impactful, beautiful, and surprising things. I thought maybe if I tried out some kind of project team, I could force myself to one of those cool women in STEM who breaks gender stereotypes by building cars and carrying a large wrench (which I still think is great, by the way). 

Then I joined PInT, which is the student-run public interest technology (PIT) organization. PInT helps the Olin community be able to apply their technical skills to address public issues and make the world a more socially just place. My first conversation with PInT people was energizing. We talked about the potential of hydroponics to bring local produce to food deserts. As I continued to work in the hydroponics team, I was given the freedom to explore myriad intersections between agriculture, social justice, education, sustainability."

"We thought about how we could use recycled materials to build a hydroponic community garden, pondered manufacturing processes and interaction design. We talked to half a dozen community gardeners, then talked to educators to learn about how hydroponics might be a tool for education and a food source for under-resourced communities. PInT expanded my definition of an engineer and helped me think about things from a systems perspective.

More importantly, we have fun. We have had many silly moments playing with plastic bottles. We have done pizza-making team bonding, and late-night building bonanzas punctuated by card games and snacks. Periodically, we have retrospectives where we talk about what is going well and what we would like to change. Oh, and we always have good vibes."

"Hello! My name is Cassandre Roos, and I am the Project Manager of the Olin Rocketry project team which helps students develop the necessary skills to succeed in the Aerospace industry. I’ve been on Rocketry since I first started at Olin and have always loved getting to learn so much about rockets and aerospace in general. I first started on the Structures sub-team which focuses on the design and fabrication of the rocket. My first year I was tasked with designing the fins for our Phoenix IV rocket which we successfully launched at the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition in New Mexico!

I spent the next year as PM while still allocating most of my time to Structures. This next year was spent on new development projects, which in regard to Structures, meant we spent the year building our first in-house carbon fiber body tubes and prototyping carbon fiber airfoil fins."

"We had many new development projects that year such as designing our own fully custom PCBs and avionics and making our own APCP solid fuel engine. These projects allow us to move towards fully student designed and built rockets that we can then launch at competition.

I have always loved Structures, and Rocketry in general, because of how hands-on the projects are and the autonomy you have to work on new projects that interest you."