why i missed rpi

Tonight was a typical night at school. It reminded me of last year. Nick came by North to pick up his backpack he had left in my car earlier in the day, and we all ended up in Sarah's room talking about her project for her Engineering Design class. Coming in late to the conversation, I gathered that the assignment was to design and build a model for something with a practical use. Something simple enough to build yourself, but complex enough to earn a good grade. Over the summer, Sarah worked at a canoe rental place in her town and her idea for an invention was to design an oar to accommodate a canoe paddler who had little or no use of one of their arms. When canoing, a person controls the direction of the paddle with one hand and puts force on the end of the paddle with the other, so Sarah's idea was to eliminate the second hand by designing an oar clip similar to what you'd see on a rowboat. It would be attached to the oar with the ability to clamp onto the side of the boat and swivel to maintain control. I won't pretend I understand or have the ability to explain the mechanics they worked out for the oar to be able to swivel and still hold the force of paddling without damage to the paddle or canoe, but it was interesting to listen. It just reminded me of how much I love the environment this school creates. Everyone is so smart, and innovative in their thinking. I feel like most of it is above me and it's hard not to be intimidated, but RPI has been the first place to really challenge me. It's the first place to make me feel like I can't do everything I want. But I don't mean that in a bad way. I like being challenged and I like being around people smarter than me. I like learning more than I expected to.