IIT - Inventing the Future

Here are two more student memories:

Graham, Visiting Campus and Camras Retreat

1. Last December (when I was a prospective student) I came to the Veteran's Day Open House, and remember walking that cold and windy walk from the lot behind SSV to Herman Hall. However, out in front of Perlstein, this guy in a trench coat greeted my dad and I with a smile and a firm handshake, and said how GLAD he was that we were here. He gave me his business card, and I looked at it as we walked away. I was flabbergasted. This guy, Jerry Doyle, head of Fin. Aid and UG Admissions, was standing in the cold greeting strangers like they were neighbors. WHAT THE WORLD?????? This and the warm welcome I received at the Open House sealed the deal - AWESOME!

2. The first ever Camras retreat I went on last month - We had a day of team building and good times at a camp out near Rockford. 17 Camras Scholars went - we all met near MSV in the morning, and we were bussed out to the camp. We played some ice breaker games to begin, and then moved to trust building exercises. In the afternoon, we did group challenges. I got to meet the upperclassmen Camras Scholars. There was a real sense of community and group bonding at the end of the day. We all agreed it was a success and we're gonna do it again. Just illustrates the amazing opportunities available in the students orgs. that we have on campus.

Muyiwa, All-nighters

Knowledgeable people say that experience is the best teacher. I would have to agree with them because the experiences in my life thus far have developed and shaped me into the person that I am today. These experiences span various stages of my life from birth to high school and now-COLLEGE! IIT has afforded me the opportunity to learn, meet a lot of people and have fun in the process. As such, through time I have nurtured and developed new friendships and together created experiences that are unforgettable. Most memorable of such experiences was one that happened in my first year of college.

When I first arrived at IIT as an International Student from Nigeria, I was really excited about coming to an institution that prides itself on a number of different ideals and traditions that are intriguing to say the least. One of such was the finals week tradition where students literally spend the whole week in and around the 24 hour library. I had the opportunity of experiencing that first hand with a number of friends in my first year. We pulled three consecutive “all-nighters” for our final exams in calculus, chemistry and physics respectively.

By the end of the third day funny enough; we were all so excited and jumpy to be finished that we could not sleep or so we thought. We planned to go grab a bite to eat in a couple of hours so I decided to get some shut eye before then. It was 5pm at the time and it was still pretty bright outside. I woke up, looked outside and it was still kind of bright. I figured I had only slept for a couple hours so I got dressed before realizing it was 8am! I had slept about 15 hours! What was even funnier was that everybody else slept till the next day as well! It was such an awesome experience and I would not trade it for anything other than actually studying on time…but when I think about it…nah! And by the way, the “all-nighters” paid off!

Greetings from IIT!  Since our Early Decision deadline was this past Wednesday, I wanted to make sure to update you with what's happening here in the office.  We are busily processing applications.  Although most of you have submitted your applications online, please keep in mind that we also have received a lot of mail that is being opened, sorted and put into your file.  Our excellent staff runs a great operation and everything is moving forward quite efficiently.  If anything is missing from your application, we will contact you detailing what we need and, of course, give you time to forward it to us.  Of course, if you do have any questions, please do not hesitate to call our office. You should expect an admission decision by the first week in December.

If you are a first year student and haven’t applied yet, it’s not too late. Our Early Action I deadline is coming up on December 9. If you are interested in our 5-year professional degree Architecture program or any of our Dual Admission/Special programs in Medicine, Law, Business or Research, please keep in mind your applications must be in by this EA I deadline.

By the way, if you have the chance, please stop by IIT and visit us!  We offer individual meetings with admission counselors and campus tours Monday-Friday at 12:45 p.m. Our Open House on Saturday, November 14 is a great way to find out if IIT is right for you. More info can be found here.

Have a great week!

Jill Sifuentes

Associate Director

There are so many great aspects about IIT that are hard to This week I asked our Student Ambassadors about their favorite memories on campus. I will be posting these responses throughout the next week for all of you to read too. Here are the first two from Alicia and Shezami... enjoy!

Alicia, Homecoming Week

I have made many memories during my time here at Illinois Institute of Technology, that it’s hard to choose just one! One memory that stands out the most for me is when I first arrived as a freshman on campus. It was Homecoming Week, and I was just starting to meet new people. I was having a hard time with the transition from high school to college, so I joined quite a few different student organizations in hope of making new friends and to have fun on campus. There were quite a few different groups that welcomed me, including UB (Union Board), LIFE (Latinos Involved in Furthering Education), and SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers).

During homecoming week, UB was in need to volunteers, and since I never had the opportunity to participate in such a huge event like homecoming at my previous school, I was very excited! When it was the day of the Homecoming Carnival, I actually helped create two golf cart floats for the Homecoming Parade and was asked to lead the parade! Everyone was very polite and friendly, and I created many new friendships with my fellow classmates. I am extremely happy to have made the decision to come to IIT, for I feel very accepted here and I don’t think I could find any other place that I would want to be.

Shezami, IPRO Day Spring 2008

I was involved in an IPRO called “Designing an Artificial Pancreas”  which was concerned with developing a non-evasive method for measuring blood glucose level and injecting the appropriate amount of insulin at specific time intervals. Initially I had chosen this IPRO based merely on the fact that it sounded so interesting and innovative but once the project went underway I became very passionate about it.

About 3 million people in America suffer from Diabetes and the fact that we could maybe develop an equipment to relieve them from the pain, they have to suffer to get a drop of blood and inject insulin, really inspired me. This IPRO exploited my full potential and allowed me apply my knowledge in real life problems. It was an IPRO of only 10 students and we learned a lot from and about each other. This was a continuing IPRO and we had completely redesigned the existing technology.  After an entire semester of hard work and diligence, when IPRO day approached we were all suddenly nervous and low in self-confidence. But our instructor gave us the motivation and encouragement we needed. We gave our presentation to the judges in the morning and stood by our display explaining our projects to judges and visitors the rest of the day.

At the end of IPRO day, we realized that we had done our best and there was nothing else we could have done to make it a better project. We were extremely anxious when they were announcing the results for our track. It was shocking and exciting to hear that our IPRO project won first place – it was then that we had realized that all our efforts had paid well.

This experience, among many others, makes me realize how much IIT has molded me into the passionate person I am today about my goals and ambitions. It makes me realize that education is not just about doing good grades and a high-paying job but it is also about helping people.  

Halloween marks costumes, trick-or-treat and the Pumpkin Launch! Although it rained most of the day on Friday, it didn't stop the IIT students from competing in the fifth annual IIT Pumpkin Launch. There was even a sizeable crowd of IIT students, faculty, staff and guests cheering on the teams and enjoying the festive fall treats (including apple cider--my favorite).

This year the first place team, Trebuchet Guevara, launched their pumpkin 185 feet, the third farthest in IIT Pumpkin Launch history! The most accurate team was the Delts who also took second place in a distance of 91 feet.  

The IIT Pumpkin Launch was once again a success and even though the weather didn't cooperate the teams and fans had a great time!!

Hopefully next year you will be able to check it out too :)

There had been recent concerns about whether the Illinois Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) funding would continue for the remainder of the 2009-2010. Last Thursday, October 15, students from colleges and universities across Illinois traveled to Springfield to encourage state govenment officials to restare the MAP funding. Several IIT students attended a rally of nearly 2,000 college students and lobbied Representatives in the Illinois Gneral Assembly.

The students' concerns were heard and the following Sunday, October 18 Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill restoring full Map funding! There were a few IIT students were among a select group of college students present when the bill was signed. Additionally, Julia Gonzalez (IIT student and Admission Intern) spoke to the group at the signing ceremony.

You can watch the WGN news story here.