June 03, 2019

Lauren Hyde was elected as the national vice president of conferences for all of NAESC, and MESC’s vice president of internal communications Lindsey Sommerfeldt participated in several events, learning valuable information that should serve MESC well in the year to come. Photo courtesy of Hyde and Sommerfeldt.

Mizzou Engineering’s top Pillar of Pursuit — Educating Engineering Leaders — manifests itself in a multitude of ways. One way our students get world-class leadership skills is through the Mizzou Engineering Student Council (MESC), and two of its members recently built upon that foundation at the National Association of Engineering Student Councils’ (NAESC) Engineering Leadership Summit at Colorado State University.

Lauren Hyde was elected as the national vice president of conferences for all of NAESC, and MESC’s vice president of internal communications Lindsey Sommerfeldt participated in several events, learning valuable information that should serve MESC well in the year to come.

Hyde is not only the first MESC member elected to national executive office, she’s the first from the entire Central Region, which encompasses Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.

Since she’ll be away from Columbia working at a co-op during the fall semester, Hyde wanted a national position she could do remotely to keep her in contact with her student council work. The vice president of conferences is responsible for coordinating efforts with various regional conference hosts to ensure the multiple conferences go well.

“We do conference calls by Zoom, actually. That’s how we run a lot of things. I thought the VP of conferences was the best role for me. I ran for it and had great support from the Central Region,” the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering major explained. “I’m really looking forward to the future and what we can accomplish.”

Sommerfeldt, also an Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering major, participated in industry site visits, then was part of a series of seminar events that helped members learn from each other as they work to build stronger student councils.

The one that most intrigued her, she said, was a session on public relations and marketing. She plans to put many of these lessons into practice with MESC this coming year.

“I’m excited to get started on a website and provide a source for everyone to go to for information,” Sommerfeldt said.