Held on Sept. 10, the picnic celebrated the university’s more technical fields of study and student organizations. There were competitions, heavy machinery, inventions; such as an alleged gum ball cleaning machine.
Casual browsing revealed a solar-powered coffee maker, a claptrap Rube Goldberg machine, and Safety Man, your new local lab safety superhero.
The event served not only as an opportunity for personal achievement, but also as an opportunity for various RSOs to showcase their wares and services. At the center of the area between the Granger, Prakken, and West buildings, stood multiple cars, assembled by the Ferris Formula SAE Team.
The organization is made up of students from a variety of majors, including automotive and welding. Together they build a car and race against over 100 teams each year, including a number of colleges that have had such organizations in operation for much longer than Ferris’. The team has consistently placed near the middle of the pack, no small feat against such competition.
Other organizations were in attendance as well, including Women in Technology and The National Society for Black Engineers.
“We’re a support group for minority students to continue in stem programs: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We’re trying to attend the regional conference, which will be in Detroit this year. They have career fairs and seminars. Top companies attend, and we have access to those companies by being members nationally,” National Society for Black Engineers President Kyle Johnson said.
Ferris mechanical engineering sophomore Carly Charlier was there representing Women in Technology.
“Our biggest thing is we like to take a stand for women in technology. It’s mostly looked at that you’re a minority… We visit different facilities and we try to go to different places like factories, a hospital that was being built. They get people more into their field, more knowledge,” Charlier said.
Between the business, health, science, and many other areas of campus, it’s easy for students to insulate themselves within their small areas. Events like this picnic aim to change that in sharing the interesting things students do.