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When Sami Haiduk, Elyse Radawski, Natalie Scott, Sofie Schumerth, and Laura Robotham arrived at Calvin in 2022, civil engineering felt intimidating for some. 

“When I came to Calvin, I felt overwhelmed and unprepared,” said Radawski. 
 
Others felt excited, but unsure what the path ahead would hold. 
 
“At first, it was just very daunting,” said Scott. “The engineering program is just intense. You look at all the classes you have to take over four years and it’s like ‘oh my goodness, how am I going to do it all?’” 
 
Four years later, the five seniors are just days away from graduation and are leaving Calvin feeling confident, prepared, and already holding job offers in their field. 
 
“Looking back, I feel accomplished,” said Scott. “I’m thankful for the Calvin community that got me through these tough eight semesters.” 

Taking different paths to a shared destination

While each student’s journey looked different, all five credit hands‑on, real‑world learning for shaping both their technical skills and professional confidence. Their experiences included summer internships, study abroad programs, and involvement in sustainability‑focused student organizations. These opportunities consistently helped connect classroom learning to real engineering challenges.

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Those experiences are now coming together in their senior engineering design project, where the team developed two construction‑ready design solutions for a local church’s parking lot. The project addresses uneven pavement and stormwater runoff, common infrastructure problems with real implications for accessibility and safety.

Solving a real-world problem

“One of our goals was to work on a project that would help a real client solve a problem and better experience their infrastructure,” said Schumerth. “In this case, that meant fixing stormwater runoff issues so the congregation can better experience going to church.” 
 
For Scott, the project underscored the importance of understanding problems from the perspective of the people affected by them. 
 
“You hear people say ‘the parking lot is terrible. It’s hard to navigate it,’” said Scott. “But when we, as a group, attended a service, we saw the parking lot packed and witnessed everyone getting to church so early just to be able to navigate the lot.”

Learning that translates to all of life

These real-life experiences informed their design solutions, which they’ll present on Saturday, April 25 during the Senior Engineering Design Open House held at the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. But, more importantly, their four years at Calvin equipped them with skills that translate well beyond their first jobs. 
 
“The professors are really open to you asking questions… Calvin really emphasizes the ‘think deeply’ part of the mission, and that’s something I’ll carry with me,” said Schumerth. “Even when I’ve come to the limit of my knowledge, knowing how to ask good questions and feeling comfortable asking people who know more than me is something that will be really helpful.”