Growing at UC
How I went from being a somewhat introverted freshman to a social, confident and engaged student
Andrew Dilley
Biomedical Engineering, '23; ACCEND Master of Engineering
Co-op: Kaleidoscope Innovation and Product Design; President of EnableUC
College is a daunting experience—so many new people, places, and habits come about all at once and it can be tough to deal with sometimes. My freshman year, all of these things came upon my life and hit me like a brick.
Overcoming my 'freshman fears'
The biggest thing I was worried about when starting college was finding good friends and getting involved with the UC community. It proved to be a struggle for the first week or so that I was in college, but soon I began to explore opportunities offered by CEAS as well as UC as a whole. I knew I wanted to get involved, but I didn’t know how or who to talk to about it. I did my own research and tried to find the best opportunity for me and after a while, I found exactly what I was looking for after the CEAS organization fair.
Getting involved on campus
Soon after the first month of my college career, I made a decision that would change my life, my interests, and myself forever. I took the initiative and reached out to several organizations on campus. That’s when I stumbled upon an organization called EnableUC. After the first meeting of the semester, I knew this was the club for me.
EnableUC designs, 3D prints, and researches prosthetic hand, arm, and finger devices as well as occupational therapy devices, giving them away to people in need completely free of charge. As soon as I joined this organization, I felt at home. I felt a sense of belonging that I was looking for when I entered University of Cincinnati. While I made a lot of friends outside of EnableUC through events on campus and in classes, EnableUC was fantastic because it allowed me to collaborate with people with similar goals to me, yet with completely different cultural, ethical, and social backgrounds.
Steps toward making a difference
From the moment I joined Enable, I felt like I could make a difference in the community EnableUC serves and I knew I wanted to motivate myself enough to make it to the President position.
I can now serve as an example of a somewhat introverted freshmen turning a social, confident, and engaged student in a little under four years.
Andrew Dilley, Biomedical engineering, '23
Gaining leadership through EnableUC
EnableUC has been and will continue to be an incredible experience for me until I graduate. Being able to change people’s lives directly is a huge passion of mine which is why I wanted to combine engineering and medicine by pursuing biomedical engineering. None of this was expected coming into CEAS at UC, but I am incredibly grateful to be where I am in this unique experience. I now serve as an example of a somewhat introverted freshmen turning a social, confident, and engaged student in a little under four years. I love UC and CEAS and it is something I will never forget and never get detached from.
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