positive experience at rpi?
My most positive experience at Rensselaer has been the class Speech Communication with Merrill Whitburn. It may seem odd to choose a course such as this as my most positive experience, and actually I have a hard time calling it my single most positive experience. However, it was different from every other class I’ve taken in my four years achieving an aerospace and mechanical engineering degree and I would recommend it to every student at RPI that seriously wants to change the world.
As an engineer, most of my classes have been focused on theory and analysis: intro to engineering analysis, strengths of materials, thermal-fluids, elements of mechanical design and so on. These are all amazing classes in which I’ve learned more than I ever knew existed, but there has always been something missing. All of these classes lack any real social involvement with other students or the professor. In Speech Communication this is practically forced on you, and while this can be scary at first, it ends up being wildly fun.
Merrill’s booming voice and grand expectations are rather intimidating for the first few days of class, but it doesn’t take long to realize he’s one of the nicest people on campus. The class involves giving five five-minute presentations over the semester. After each speech your performance is critiqued. Merrill has the talent of utterly destroying any confidence you had in front of people, but then encourages you enough to help you improve ten-fold over the semester. Merrill is not the only one you have to watch out for, the rest of the class gets to rip you a new one as well. The fun part is that everyone has to go through with it — and there is an awesome sense of comradery in that.
Speech Communication is a class that I honestly enjoyed attending every time. My memory is filled with laughter, nervousness, and in the end confidence in my ability to give a presentation. If you have a free elective in your junior or senior year, take this class. It teaches you a skill that most people are deathly afraid of and will likely help you more in your career, life, business or secret plan to start a religion than any other single class at RPI.
This was my entry to the Union Challenge 10: “Describe your most positive Rensselaer experience ensuring that you focus on how it differed from your normal experiences and how this type of experience might be shared with others.”