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How CEC 101 impacts students over their four years at Miami

When students first arrive on campus for the first time, the transition to college life can be very intimidating. From not knowing what classes to take to having to make friends, this is a new, scary experience for most first years. However, here at Miami we understand this transition, and try to provide our students with resources that can ease this transition. One of these efforts is here in CEC and is called CEC 101.

CEC 101, or Computing, Engineering, & Society, is an introductory course that first-year engineering students take to first understand more about this field, and the resources Miami offers. Though this class is held the first semester of every engineering student start at Miami, it has a way of impacting students for the rest of their college career.

I was able to talk with three seniors about their time in the course and how it helped them for the rest of their time at Miami.

Emily Kuehl, a senior chemical engineering major, felt that CEC 101 was a great introduction into the engineering community. The class “set the stage for me to be ready emotionally and academically for difficult classes ahead.” She believes that her time in the course helped prepare her and other students for the “grueling demands” that the engineering field brings that help benefit each student for their four years at Miami.

Girl Scheduling for Classes

First year student registering for classes                  

Delaney Brown, a senior chemical engineering and energy major, said her time in CEC 101 helped force her out of her comfort zone, and help make connections in the CEC community. The course helped her become “less nervous about choosing engineering and the transition from high school to college.” This course helped prepare her to become a UA, undergraduate assistant, during her sophomore year, and having to facilitate discussion in her class. She believes that CEC 101 helps students feel like they are apart of the CEC community, and hopes that freshman are using the course to help creating lasting connections for the rest of their four years at Miami.

Katie Wood, a senior bioengineering major, saw her time in CEC 101 as a way to help students get important information about college, and develop the skills they need to be successful as students. This course helps prepare CEC students for the next four years, allowing them to be more knowledgeable about Miami’s resources than other students. This class allowed her to make connections with other students, which made pre-requisite classes less intimidating. CEC 101 helped Wood “know how to schedule for classes [her] freshman year and helped [her] find the clubs  [she] wanted to get involved in, so it has definitely had a lasting impact.”

Even though this course might only be one credit hour, the information that it presents incoming CEC students is vital to their success in the next four years. They will making lasting connections in this course that will last long past their first semester of college. CEC 101 is created to help the transition for incoming first year students, but influences the experience of each CEC student for the rest of their Miami career.

By Maggie Cavanaugh, CEC Reporter