One of the highlights from this weekend: Young woman during the Q&A portion of my talk: “I don’t have a question. Just wanted to let you know I want to be an engineer and have just decided to go to @MissouriSandT because of your talk.”

Stephanie Evans, AE’12, an electrical test engineer at Space Systems Loral in Palo Alto, Calif., and creator of The STEMulus YouTube channel, spoke to a group of high school students in Illinois about making STEM more welcoming. The comment Evans tweeted came during the Q&A portion.

“So heads up, fellow Miners. You’ve got a new recruit incoming, and I’m confident she’s going to continue the Missouri S&T tradition of shaping STEM fields, not just with innovation, but also with inclusion,” wrote Evans about the experience. Read her complete essay at magazine.mst.edu.

– Steph Evz @StephEvz43

My students bought me a hydraulic wood splitter.

Since I arrived here at S&T, I’ve been the faculty advisor for KMNR, 89.7 FM, the student-run college radio station. The students are kind enough to allow me to do a one-hour radio show most Wednesday mornings 10–11 a.m. As the advisor to a great bunch of students, I do what I always try to do, treat people with kindness, respect and love. I didn’t think I was doing anything special. But the students and alumni of KMNR evidently thought otherwise. They organized, unbeknownst to me, a fundraising effort to buy me a gift to show just how much they appreciated my advice over the years. They raised more than enough to purchase this wood splitter! They presented it to me after my radio show last week. For one of a very few moments of my life, I was actually speechless. It’s taken me several days to even put my thoughts together here. They composed a nice letter to go along with the splitter. It will soon be framed and on my wall in a place of honor.

As a professor, I teach a great many students, both inside and outside of the classroom. They spend their time here at S&T, then move off into the world and live their lives. We professors may keep in touch with a few, but we never really know how they are doing and if all our time, energy, effort and passion in our teaching and interactions with students makes any real difference. But today I know that, perhaps, just a little, I did. I am honored and humbled beyond words.

– Jeff Schramm, Hist’92, associate professor of history and political science