August 03, 2020

Joseph DeFeo

An incoming freshman’s transition to college can be a daunting challenge. Having to achieve academically plus meet new people in an all-new environment is stressful.

To reduce this stress, Mizzou Engineering conducts its Engineering Success Bridge Program for incoming freshmen students. This free program allows these students to get a small sample of college life before their classes start in August. This year’s program went online for the first time, running weekdays from July 13-24.

Joseph DeFeo, from Jefferson City, Missouri, participated in this year’s Success Bridge Program. Before the program started, Defeo’s most wanted to get to know other incoming engineers.

“I hoped to meet new people who had similar interests as I did before getting to school,” DeFeo said.

Eliana Eubanks, from Cary, North Carolina, also wanted to meet people with similar interests through the Success Bridge Program.

Eliana Eubanks

“Since I am coming to campus from North Carolina, getting to know other engineers before coming to MU was important to me,” Eubanks said.

Program Activities

Participants had a full two weeks of activities, including a review of chemistry and math, competitions among themselves, and speakers from private companies.

DeFeo enjoyed the presentation by Mizzou Engineering’s Dr. James Keller regarding chemistry.

“He made it easy to follow and helped teach some chemistry that I didn’t understand,” DeFeo said.

Eubanks liked the presentation by Rachel Rinkus from Abbott Laboratories.

“It was enjoyable to hear from someone who went through the program I’m going into and is now an industry professional,” Eubanks said. “It was also interesting to hear what projects Abbott Laboratories is working on regarding COVID-19 testing systems.”

Both DeFeo and Eubanks stated their favorite activity was the case study. Every Success Bridge Program student participated in this activity, which allowed them to get to know other incoming students.

“I was really surprised when we were put on a Hacking COVID-19 task force for our case study. After working on the project for two weeks, we presented it to a mock Board of Curators,” Eubanks said.

DeFeo thinks highly of the program, and it can help future engineering students.

“I would recommend the program to incoming freshman,” DeFeo said.

Eubanks intends to study in the Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering department, and DeFeo plans to major in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.