Let me catch up:
I haven’t written in a blog since my trip to Rome last summer. A lot has happened since then. I’ll just highlight a few things: my senior thesis, 3M, and The Landing School.
I am in my final semester of my senior year at Iowa State. I’ve been working hard on a senior thesis: designing a creek kayak. There are a lot of different kayaks, and I chose to design one that is used in whitewater creeks.
I’ve learned so much about kayaks and how they are shaped in order to serve a specific purpose. I have to consider their volume, rocker, hull shape, chines, weight distribution, and much more. I chose to design a kayak because I am interested in marine design. I do not intend to make any revolutionary changes to my creek kayak. Instead, I chose this assignment for the learning outcomes: I want to know techniques and the problems faced in general marine design. This has helped me a lot with learning hull design. I’ve designed hulls on computer software and used a machine to carve out my designs into wood. I’ll eventually test these small boats in water to get a hands on idea of how they are different.
There are many different kayak brands, and I’ve researched the pros and cons of each brand’s creekboat. I intend to make a hybrid of each brand that has the most positive qualities as possible. I met with the Canoe and Kayak Club here on campus. I’ll got to ask lots of questions and ride in a creek kayak myself. I thought I had done a lot of research, but I still learned more in that two hour visit that I could ever have imagined I would. I'm so glad I went.
I went practiced how to escape the kayak if you are flipped upside down. I know what safety features to add now.
I’ve learned so much about kayaks and how they are shaped in order to serve a specific purpose. I have to consider their volume, rocker, hull shape, chines, weight distribution, and much more. I chose to design a kayak because I am interested in marine design. I do not intend to make any revolutionary changes to my creek kayak. Instead, I chose this assignment for the learning outcomes: I want to know techniques and the problems faced in general marine design. This has helped me a lot with learning hull design. I’ve designed hulls on computer software and used a machine to carve out my designs into wood. I’ll eventually test these small boats in water to get a hands on idea of how they are different.
There are many different kayak brands, and I’ve researched the pros and cons of each brand’s creekboat. I intend to make a hybrid of each brand that has the most positive qualities as possible. I met with the Canoe and Kayak Club here on campus. I’ll got to ask lots of questions and ride in a creek kayak myself. I thought I had done a lot of research, but I still learned more in that two hour visit that I could ever have imagined I would. I'm so glad I went.
I went practiced how to escape the kayak if you are flipped upside down. I know what safety features to add now.
I took a chance at finding an internship a few months ago by showing up at an Engineering Career Fair. We don’t have many industrial design firms come to the Design Career Fair, so I went to the engineering one instead. I visited the 3M company booth. I talked to them and showed them my portfolio and was offered an on-campus interview the next day. The interview was for a summer internship. It went well and I was told to be patient in hearing back from them. A few weeks ago, I heard that they were interested in a second interview. This time it was with three of their lead designers and the original woman who interviewed me on campus. The interview went well and I’ve been waiting to hear back. I got an email this morning that they would like to have me as their intern for this summer! I am very excited and can’t wait to get some real world experience outside of school.
The Landing School is in Maine. It is a marine design school. I have applied to join their one-year-long Yacht Design program. If accepted, I'll start there in the fall of 2013 after my 3M internship. At the end of the year, I will receive a diploma in yacht design. More information on that later. Let's just see if I get accepted first. 
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