In partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Wright College is eligible to receive a $500,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the STEM program at Wright.
This grant would be utilized for the students enrolled in Wright’s Engineering and Computer Science program in various methods that all aim to help each student succeed beyond Wright College.
Wright’s Engineering and Computer Science program is available to all students- even incoming students not yet enrolled at Wright. This allows for students to figure out their own path and determine opportunities are suitable for each individual student.
More specifically, the Engineering and Computer Science program is directed as a program available for students who are interested in the STEM fields and are willing to put in the effort in and outside of classes.
One of the widely-known benefits for students in the program is Wright’s Guaranteed Transfer Pathway, which means that students may transfer as a junior into any top engineering schools in the country guaranteed. The courses that students take at Wright are tailored to the university for proper credit transfer, which would give students the opportunity to save money and time once they transfer.
Professor Doris Espiritu, Dean of Engineering at Wright and Head of the Engineering program, compliments the Guaranteed Transfer Pathway as an opportunity for students to take university-level courses while still at Wright.
“This exposure opens a chance for students, especially underrepresented groups, to think beyond- beyond transferring and beyond a bachelor’s degree- and think about their careers,” said Espiritu.
Espiritu has collectively secured various grants for the program, some reaching over a million dollars, and has stated that the grants are effectively utilized to ensure that each student has the resources necessary to succeed.
For Espiritu, the Engineering and Computer Science program has been successful not only because of monetary funding, but because of Wright students integrating their own abilities and combining efforts.
“Students keep pushing together, which creates a community that works together, Espiritu said.
For students in focusing their careers in a STEM field, having support from peers is a vital component in succeeding in courses.
Ahmand Eqbal, a student in the Engineering and Computer Science program, comments on how peer camaraderie has helped students in maintaining their gpa and in learning essential skills.
“[The program] teaches you how to communicate, how to problem-solve, and most importantly, how to work together,” Eqbal said.
Although the skills are not complex mathematical equations, Eqbal said the skills improve the students’ ability to self-advocate and take complex subject matter into comprehensible topics.
These skills were showcased during Engineering Week’s Robotics Competition on February 24 in which students in the Engineering and Computer Science program assembled their own robots and participated in mini tournaments to highlight the robots’ capabilities.
Shlesha Patel, another student in the Engineering and Computer Science program, shares how the program has allowed her to reach greater endeavors that were once simply fantasies.
As a female student with no relatives in the US, Patel did not have much familial guidance to help allocate resources in the STEM field. But, enrolling in Wright’s program gave Patel the opportunity to learn new things and put what she learned into practice.
During the week that led up to the robotics competition, Patel and her group were tasked in collaborating in building and decorating their robot.
“This program pushed me to be more than what I’ve dreamed of. I got a summer fellowship at U of I for research in condensed matter physics,” Patel said. “Before, I would think ‘I couldn’t,’ but now I say ‘I can see my future.’”
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