(Please excuse any brevity or typos. I’m hastily writing this on our flight to Nicaragua, trying to get it out before I lose internet, which on an international flight apparently happens upon leaving US airspace).

I need to start with an introduction to an amazing program. ETHOS is a University of Dayton organization that is, quite simply, changing the world, one engineer at a time. The 14 year old program is sending UD engineering students all over the world, engaging them to use their engineering education and skills to help solve problems unique to individual communities, in ways that are appropriate, and sustainable to those communities.

From the ETHOS website:

Working with Aprovecho Research Center in Oregon, Engineers in Technical Humanitarian Opportunities of Service learning (ETHOS) was developed in the spring of 2001 by a group of undergraduate engineering students from the University of Dayton. Our program was founded to promote the service-learning aspect of engineering through technical immersions, student activities, research, and hands-on projects. Since its founding in 2001, ETHOS has sent 270 students to 20 different countries, working with 38 project sponsors.

Through these experiences, students have gained perspectives on how engineering and technology are influenced by the world. Participating students have been able to use their engineering skills for humanitarian purposes, serving others through practical engineering knowledge. Our alumni learn about the world, different cultures and themselves.

As a UD alum, who participated in a 10 week ETHOS immersion to Peru in 2007, I am immensely proud of the work ETHOS students have been doing. There have been too many projects for me to list, and I don’t want to highlight any, as to detract from the importance of any of the others. I encourage you to take a look at the ETHOS website to read about some of the more recent, and ongoing projects.

ETHOS Website

From providing clean drinking water, to helping reduce indoor air pollution, to improving healthcare facilities (and on, and on), it’s clear that UD students are in fact changing the world. They are stepping outside of their comfort zone, traveling to foreign lands, and sharing their knowledge and abilities to make a positive, sustainable impact on the world. The real impact however, is a result of the change that happens within the students.

It’s easy to reduce the ETHOS experiences to service trips, because on the surface, that’s what they are. The students go on a trip to serve others. It’s exactly what I thought I was doing when I went to Peru. After eight years of reflection on my own experience, I now know it’s something much more important than a service trip. They are transformative experiences. I don’t mean transformative in the way your triple grande, three pump, sugar-free vanilla, soy latte transformed the way you see coffee. The immersions are transformative in a way that, among other things, alters students’ understanding of what engineering is, or can be. I can’t speak for all ETHOS alumni on what is gained from participating in the immersions or breakouts, but I know the following, from my own experience and subsequent years of reflection, along with the anecdotal conversations with other participants:

• Participating in an ETHOS immersion or breakout will turn service to others into a calling, that will permeate many aspects of life.
• ETHOS trips show students that an engineering education provides one with power to make a positive impact on the world.
• The experience can shift the paradigm of engineering as a career to one of engineering as a vocation.

So, Nicaragua. On the Saturday of last year’s UD Reunion Weekend, I was asked by the ETHOS Administrative Director if I would be interested in participating, as an alumni leader, in a breakout trip to Nicaragua. The trip takes a group of students to rural Nicaragua for 10 days to work with an organization called Grupo Fenix. Again, I won’t go into detail on the organization, when their website does a much better job than I would.

Grupo Fenix Website

Over the 10 days, students will cast into the village of Sabana Grande, near the Honduran border, where they will learn about the construction of solar ovens, PV solar panels, and PV battery chargers, while participating in some construction and installation activities. The activities will take place around a larger discussion and reflection on the use of renewable technologies in rural areas, the impact that the production and use of such technologies have on the communities, and how engineers can play an important role in initiatives such as those at Grupo Fenix, around the world.

I’m beyond excited to have been asked to participate in the trip, to offer my experience as a guide to the students, and to help them in their reflection on their experiences. I hope to see the spark of transformation and inspiration I’ve seen in so many past ETHOS participants, in the students, and in myself. I’ll be sharing our experience here, as we progress through the week.

I’ll also be posting pictures to Instagram @jobergefell.

See you in Nicaragua.