This Never Ending Story
As a recent transfer to SDSU, I have high hopes for my time here and the path it will set me on after, but it will take time and effort. One important action I took was joining an engineering club, Aztec Racing Formula SAE. This appealed to me because it seemed like a group of friends teaming up to build a final product based on everyone's interests. This is a discourse community.
While it sounds like a blast to join, committing so much time to a club can be a risk. In Ann M. Johns' article Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity, she states that, "If students want to become affiliated with academic discourse communities, or even if they want to succeed in school, they make have to make considerable sacrifices." This has never been truer to me than before. I've had to constantly think about my identity as a friend(weighing my time for hangout with time for study), my identity as a "gamer", and even my identity as a boyfriend.
This is, of course, a conscious choice I am making to dive deeper into this discourse community of engineers. Joining this club, in addition to my studies, less time is presented to me for social media and other time-consuming websites like YouTube and Reddit. This trade-off is more than worth it to me for the opportunity to succeed in my post academic career. I am actively preparing a future identity for a professional setting. That being said, as a community we are still learning and one tie-in to our more childish identities is the prolific amount of requests for a "mascot" (NSFW?) to be slyly etched onto our final project somewhere. Although not my cup of tea, I do respect the influx of various identities in our larger discourse community. I would have preferred Nyan Cat myself.
It must be a tough task to have to handle all these college students at once, which is why we have multiple authority figures in our club. We have a president to handle funding and event planning, a vice president that takes all the input of the system leads for analysis and relays to the entire club, and lastly we have system leads. These system leads are in charge of one aspect of the vehicle, such as, engine, brakes, and suspension. While working on their own projects individually, the systems have to come together to make sure there is synergy between them. As a first year member, I am not sure how authority is assigned, but I know all the system leads are returning members. Authority should be experienced members that will consistently be present and has a strong vision for where a project will lead. In all discourse communities this should hold true. Just don't pick me please.
While it sounds like a blast to join, committing so much time to a club can be a risk. In Ann M. Johns' article Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity, she states that, "If students want to become affiliated with academic discourse communities, or even if they want to succeed in school, they make have to make considerable sacrifices." This has never been truer to me than before. I've had to constantly think about my identity as a friend(weighing my time for hangout with time for study), my identity as a "gamer", and even my identity as a boyfriend.
This is, of course, a conscious choice I am making to dive deeper into this discourse community of engineers. Joining this club, in addition to my studies, less time is presented to me for social media and other time-consuming websites like YouTube and Reddit. This trade-off is more than worth it to me for the opportunity to succeed in my post academic career. I am actively preparing a future identity for a professional setting. That being said, as a community we are still learning and one tie-in to our more childish identities is the prolific amount of requests for a "mascot" (NSFW?) to be slyly etched onto our final project somewhere. Although not my cup of tea, I do respect the influx of various identities in our larger discourse community. I would have preferred Nyan Cat myself.
It must be a tough task to have to handle all these college students at once, which is why we have multiple authority figures in our club. We have a president to handle funding and event planning, a vice president that takes all the input of the system leads for analysis and relays to the entire club, and lastly we have system leads. These system leads are in charge of one aspect of the vehicle, such as, engine, brakes, and suspension. While working on their own projects individually, the systems have to come together to make sure there is synergy between them. As a first year member, I am not sure how authority is assigned, but I know all the system leads are returning members. Authority should be experienced members that will consistently be present and has a strong vision for where a project will lead. In all discourse communities this should hold true. Just don't pick me please.
Hi Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteVery well written blog post. I am in a very similar situation as you. I too am a recent transfer, and just joined the Mechatronics Club this semester. Trying to find enough time to do homework, study, and work on projects for the club would be hard enough, without also trying to have a social life and find time to relax. As Johns said, joining an academic discourse community, like a college club, has definitely required sacrifices.
Hey Manny,
ReplyDeleteThe point you highlighted about having to make sacrifices during your times as a student in order to succeed is an important one. I joined the SDSU Aztec Baja Club this semester, where we're building a baja buggy to race. It's similar to the system you have in your Formula club. I want to devote more time to it, but I'm always in fear that it will take away from my duties academically, at work, or with friends. It's definitely a delicate dance in order to do, but it's a valuable skill that gets taught to each one of us as we progress through school and life.