At UVA Chemical Engineering, students are taught to think like professional engineers. Throughout their years in the program, students learn clear communication, creativity, and problem-solving skills – in class, in the lab, and now, on a ropes course.
To welcome new students to the Department of Chemical Engineering, second year and transfer students were invited to the first annual iteration of CHE: The Challenge. Hosted at the UVA Recreation’s Outdoor Adventure Challenge Course, the event provided students with both physical and mental challenges that showcased the importance of teamwork, communication, and on-the-fly strategic thinking.
Students, divided into teams, were presented with increasingly difficult challenges and, through efficient communication, teamwork, and creative thinking, came up with innovative solutions to meet those challenges. While working chemical engineers don’t often find themselves crossing rope bridges or pulling their colleagues up a massive rope ladder rung-by-rung, chemical engineers do rely on the strength of their teams and their sharpened problem-solving abilities to accomplish their goals in efficient and innovative ways.
While students may have learned skills that will help them in college and beyond, the benefits went further than that – they had fun and made friends.
The Challenge Course made my first few weeks at UVA a little easier.
Franciele Momberg, a transfer student who attended the event also remarked "I found myself asking a lot of people for directions and policies, even if I didn’t know them. It helped me get better at public speaking”
The Department looks forward to inviting a new group of students to CHE: The Challenge next fall.