Published on 10-10-2024
Finding a passion in college can be both challenging and rewarding. I was lucky enough to find mine when I joined Engineers Without Borders (EWB).
EWB is a US-based organization that partners with communities worldwide to meet basic needs through sustainable engineering projects. Our Purdue chapter is an EPICS organization.
Founded at Purdue University in 1995, EPICS is a service-learning design program in which teams of students partner with local and global community organizations to address human, community and environmental needs. Through the EPICS EWB program, I discovered that I love helping others.
As an integrated business and engineering major, I combined my skill sets in marketing and in STEM to serve the team. In my sophomore year, I led the fundraising team. I worked as a design lead for two years before becoming a mentor. Now, I guide current design leads in the fundraising processes while simultaneously running the marketing and social media for current projects and helping to write grant applications.
We currently have two ongoing projects. One is a community center in Louisiana--the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Native American Tribe (GCDB) Hurricane Center. We are building a hurricane-resistant infrastructure in the center of this community that will provide them with a safe and stable building. This will give the tribe a safe and stable community center.
The second is a clean water project in Rwanda, Africa. We are building a water distribution system that will pipe clean water from the natural spring to the Nyakibizi communities. I work on fundraising directly for the Rwanda project and have created marketing materials for the Hurricane Resiliency project.
On October 13, 2024, we held a 5K and raised over $4,000 for the Rwandan project where we handed out informative pamphlets and flyers about the Louisiana hurricane center we plan to build.
I have worked on smaller grants for the Rwanda project and helped to create the grant writing team for the community center in Louisiana. These small grants along with our fundraising efforts will allow us to both send Purdue students to Rwanda to build the clean water filtration system on-site while also funding the material. It has been inspiring to watch these projects unfold and see the insurmountable positive impact we have had in these communities.
Being a design lead and mentor has expanded my leadership skills. I’m able to learn what motivates a group of students, and how to balance friendships and make connections with those I lead. I am grateful to EWB for allowing me to intricately use my integrated business and engineering skills while also allowing me to find my passion for helping others.
Bio:
Marisa Weygandt is a senior from Boulder, Colorado, studying integrated business and engineering while minoring in finance and economics. Along with being a member of Engineers Without Borders, Weygandt is a member of the sorority Alpha Xi Delta. Weygandt had a consulting internship this past summer with Crowe LLC in Chicago, Illinois.
