Whole Life Concepts Project Final

Mark Sparrow

Introduction to Engineering (ENGR 1201-021) Meg Harkins 10/19/13

I have neither nor received any unauthorized help on this assignment, nor witnessed any violation of the UNC Charlotte Code of Academic Integrity. Mark Sparrow

10/19/13

SparrowWhole Life Concept

Introduction and background My name is Mark Sparrow and both my parents are from Peru. I also have two little sisters that I took care of before I left for college. My father always told me to follow my dreams and to never lose sight of what is important to me. My passion is very much fueled by want to better myself as it is to help my family progress as a whole. They have always been there for me and paying for college wouldnt be easy since they also have two younger daughters to take care. They help me strive to do the best that I can to make a name for myself (Mark Sparrow). I was first introduced to algebraic math by my grandfather at a very young age back in Peru. He saw that I excelled in it and continued to teach me when I would go to visit. So I thought Mechanical engineering would be a good fit since I continue to progress day by day in math. Engineers are also the innovators of the world and are always thinking of new ways to go about things. That made it an ideal job for me, Im always creating and looking for new ideas to better advance the world we live in today (Mark Sparrow). In this paper I will be describing what my passion is and how it will affect the community. This paper is also modeled by the Whole Life Concept Model and goes into more depth by using my passion (Mark Sparrow). Summary of Passion My passion in life is to be a well-rounded person who can balance both the social and educational aspect in life to become a great leader who can inspire others to do the same. Being social doesnt mean you have to be a popular person within the community, but you just have to be an easy person to approach and have a conversation with. I have great communication skills and people love talking to me because I dont make myself a hard person to approach. I know that being this way will get me far in the business world and would even land me with a leadership position. This has been my passion since the beginning of my senior year in high school. I never really thought about a passion throughout high school, I just knew that I wanted to have a big job that made good money. At the same time everyone wanted a job that fits that description. I was also not a very social person; I was mainly focused on the educational aspect of high school. There is nothing wrong with only being focused on the educational aspect but it stops you from networking because in the real world its not just about what you know, its who you know. I learned this my senior year in high school so I decided to join student council and it really helped me meet a bunch of new people. I regret not figuring out my passion sooner but now it has helped influence my choices here in college. I am aware of my own capacity towards bettering myself. I will try to really find that happy medium when I have succeeded in both my social and educational aspect. It goes along with being a well-rounded person when I decide to not just focus on either social or education aspects. I might never end up finding that medium but I will continue my passion (Mark Sparrow). My father is the main person who had the most influence on my passion. He always motivated me to make good grades in school in order to have a better and successful future. At the same time he told me that to be a great leader I have to understand people. My father holds the most influence on me because he knows what is best for me because he wants to see me become a successful young man. There have been many cases where I found myself missing the social aspect of my life. For example, I was at a group meeting one time in high school and it seemed like everyone knew each other and I only knew the person I went with. It i snt a good feeling when you dont know many people youre with. Meeting and getting to know new people has always been very hard for me. All I ever did was study and not really go out of my way to get to know some people. The same thing could have happened if I were at a job interview and I didnt know anyone in the company that I was applying for. Knowing someone gets your foot in the door, then it takes a good resume that you have built educationally to get you the job (Mark Sparrow). In todays world it isnt only crucial to be very intelligent, but to also be a very social person. It is known that a person with both educational and social skills is more likely to hold a leadership position over a person with only educational skills. This year I decided to become an associate with Lambda Chi Alpha and it has definitely enhanced my social life. I have met a lot of other students through many events that we hold on campus. At the same time as an associate we are required to complete 8 library hours per week so my education isnt at risk (Mark Sparrow). Summary of Impact

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One goal through my passion of wanting to better myself is to positively influence others into doing the same. The world is looking for people that are not only smart but social as well. Aside from the typical engineering technical job, engineers all around the world also hold high positions within corporations as leaders or even CEO s. To get to that point engineers also have to be very social in order to network with many people within the company. Many companies are on the lookout for engineers to hold high positions because engineers are problem solvers, not just mathematicians (Mark Sparrow). Another goal that I have is to help build future leaders from the ground up. Good leaders have to be able to talk one on one with each individual member to run projects effectively. Projects and just the work environment in general will run at full potential when there is good communication between the leader and his workers. Arguments happen when there is miscommunication between the leader and the members of his team, this makes the team less effective than it should be (Mark Sparrow). My last goal is to hold a personal team building workshop for high school students entering their last year of high school. It is crucial to start talking to students as soon as possible because the sooner they are interested on a passion; the sooner they are on their path to becoming successful leaders for the future. In this workshop students would learn about how to work in teams and be effective leaders, teaching effective communication skills that can be used on a daily basis in their work space (Mark Sparrow). Summary of three emerging global, societal, or contemporary issues that may affect my passion Leadership will continue to evolve in the business world for decades to come. The business world is also moving towards global markets, in many countries with employees in flexible places and hours. New leaders are needed that can value technical information and one who can satisfy customer needs. In todays business environment the contribution engineers make is underestimated. For example, in the United Kingdom engineers and the industries they work for make up most of the UKs wealth. Engineers play a hu ge role as leaders and problem solvers above all else in industries (Leadership). There will come a time when I will be flexible as to where I live, and I will have to be able to adapt to the way any industry runs if I want to evolve along with this new ideal global market (Mark Sparrow). Most team-based organizations have changed from a traditional leadership environment to a shared leadership environment where it is important to empower your team members. Leaders will be prepared on negotiating and facilitating the complexity of leading teams as challenges continue to emerge. These new capabilities in a team environment help enhance a team leaders ability to self-asses and figure out an effective management style for any specific situation (Challenges). This change in the way leadership positions are held may very well challenge many different leaders as well as affect me on my journey to becoming a leader (Mark Sparrow). According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, todays leaders are faced wit h problems in communicating a vision, managing change, embracing diversity, and even creating a team environment. A leaders communication skills is key in communicating a vision, without that communication ideas may not processed the same by every member of the industry. I will also face these challenges as I continue to progress in my passion and help others become future leaders (Leadership and Management). Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities: Identifying and describing the general areas of knowledge, skills, and abilities on how I will turn my passion into a career My passion of wanting to structure myself both socially and educationally to become a great leader is part of the job for any engineer. Keeping myself on the ball educationally is the technical part of my passion that will help me receive the title of an engineer. I will go through many college courses such as Introduction to Engineering where I have been developing my leadership skills through assigned group projects. These assigned group projects are modeled similarly to an actual project engineers would have to complete in teams. The projects help us begin to understand what it is like to work in a real team where everyone is pulling their weight in order to complete what is needed while we learn how to manage our time for group meetings. These groups also help my social aspect in effectively communicating with my team members and learning how to approach each one individually about certain parts of the project as if we were real engineers. Other typical engineering courses such as Calculus I, II, III, Physics I, II, and Thermodynamics will provide me with a solid foundation educationally to understand what style of

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work an engineer would have to deal with on a day to day basis. This is how my social and educational passion for becoming a leader would tie into my career as an engineer (Mark Sparrow). Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities: Identifying my major and discussing why it is a good fit for my passion Engineers are leaders within their industry; many aspire and become CEOs because they are wired to be problem solvers for any situation. The world continues to develop itself and it seems like we need more and more leaders to step up and take charge; especially now that the corporate world is moving towards global markets. As an engineer I would have gone through many college courses such as Introduction to Engineering where I have been developing my leadership skills through assigned group projects. Typical engineering courses such as Calculus I, II, III, Physics I, II, and Thermodynamics will provide me with a solid foundation but I will gain greater knowledge by taking an internship in between semesters to work hands on with other engineers currently in the field. This will all prepare me on becoming that ideal engineer that companies are so eager to have on board. While being an engineer I will mentor bright students to become leaders within their community. High school, middle school and even elementary school are filled with children that will run this world in the future. As an engineer I could help them begin to prepare for the future by holding a personal team building workshop to motivate students which is also one of my goals (Mark Sparrow). Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities: Three examples of course materials that shall help me achieve my impact goals Engineering 1201 is a course that is helping me become a better individual leader within my assigned group. I will also be able to help mold other students into leaders after knowing and learning what type of leaders are needed in todays world. Physics will help me think outside of the box into many different concepts that will help develop my mind set. Calculus in general will just test my brain power; it is one of the hardest all extensive math courses that that engineers have to take (Mark Sparrow). Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities: Three jobs that will attribute to society One job opportunity that would attribute to society in the community is an Entry-Level Water/Wastewater Engineering position in Raleigh, North Carolina. Some responsibilities are to design water collection, storage and distribution systems as well as water treatment systems. You will also need to know how to prepare technical memoranda, and how to perform hydraulic modeling. It attributes to society because they help find solutions to waste water and on how to treat water (Entry). Another job opportunity is as a Structural Engineering Project Manager in Raleigh, NC. Duties of the position are designing structural components for residential structures, producing construction documents relating to structural components. They are looking for someone who has one to three years of experience in residential construction industry. This job attributes to society because they build residential structures for people to live in (Structural). The last job opportunity is as a Design Engineer in Winston-Salem, NC. Some duties are designing mechanical components and assemblies, and utilizing engineering tools such as FMEAs, FEA, and DFMA for validation of design content. They are looking for someone with a bachelors degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering from a four-year ABET accredited university. The job attributes to the community because they design all the parts for commercial, business jet, and military markets (Career). Knowledge, Application, Skills, and Abilities: Identifying the sources that will help me develop non-academic knowledge I recently became an associate with the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. Through Lambda Chi Alpha Im learning how to become a well-rounded business man who has all the characteristics of a true leader. I am bettering my social lifestyle with the fraternity that I will use to lead others in the future. Through the fraternity I have also met a lot of alumni that work for big industries who could help me with future job opportunities. So the fraternity is a great way to network. Another source of non-academic knowledge is from being in the first ever UNCC drumline. I have practices weekly and home games all day Saturdays. Being on the drumline helps me with my time

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management skills because I do not have any time for procrastination, I have to make sure all my work is done ahead of time just in case new plans come up. A good leader doesnt procrastinate because it makes you rush through your work and it could be done badly. Living in Hawthorn has helped me with non-academic knowledge as well because I get to talk to many students with similar a mindset yet so different (Mark Sparrow). Reflection and Conclusion: My passion is to better my social and educational lifestyle to become a better leader. I also plan on using my passion to create future leaders for the business world with an engineering mentality. The whole life concept model is used to show how we should live our lives. We should be driven by our passion then use knowledge, application, and impact to forward our passion. This project has helped me truly think about what my life passion is and on how to pursue it and accomplish my goals. Im most definitely committed towards attaining my Mechanical Engineering degree. This project has definitely helped me reason as to why I want to attain my degree (Mark Sparrow).

SparrowWhole Life Concept

Works Cited Career Opportunities: Design Engineer (13797) , last modified September 19, 2013, https://career8.successfactors.com/career?career_ns=job_listing&company=BEAerospace&navBarLevel=JOB_SEA RCH&rcm_site_locale=en_US&career_job_req_id=13797&jobPipeline=Indeed. Entry-Level Water/Wastewater Engineer, last modified October 16, 2013, https://careersdewberry.icims.com/jobs/2871/entry-level-water-wastewaterengineer/job?mode=job&iis=Indeed&iisn=Indeed.com. Leadership and Management Journals, last modified 2013, http://www.asce.org/LeadershipResources/Leadership-Tools-and-Resources/Leadership-and-Management-Journals/. Leadership challenges in an engineering environment, last modified August 06, 2002, http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=536439&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls %2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D536439. Structural Engineering Project Manager, last modified October 12, 2013, http://www.indeed.com/cmp/TheSummit-Companies/jobs/Structural-Engineering-Project-Manager-03d8a087d6e25913.