Peter Coats
CSI Prospective
I am Peter Coats and am in my last
summer session before officially graduating from the Architectural Engineering
program at the University of Texas at Austin. I was excited to get the
opportunity so kindly granted by my CSI chapter to attend the CSI Conference and
Design Competition.
Peter Coats (right) & team inventories competition
materials, while Grant Easterling looks for his camera.
It was a very fulfilling experience as I learned so much from the building industry professionals that I was surrounded by and that I got to see and experience the City of Philadelphia, which I had never visited previously. Furthermore, getting to spend time with other students from all around the nation with similar academic interests was very interesting. It was helpful, especially being a part of the contingent team, to have the night before and a good portion of the day of the competition to be compelled to interact with the other students. That amount of getting to know one another was effective in setting the stage for the rest of the weekend. By the end of the weekend I had been able to go sight seeing with, dine with and visit the Philly pubs with most of the other students to the extent that I felt that I had made some new friends.
I hope that despite the fact that I will not be a student anymore that I will be able to participate somehow in next year’s San Antonio conference and I would only hope to see more inter-student activities so there might be more links made between students that could last into the future of CSI.
CSI Philadelphia Conference Perspective
As a third year architectural engineering student at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, I am the 2003-04 VP of the Student Chapter at OSU. Yes, that’s “Student Chapter” not “Student Affiliate”…the last such entity, so I’m told. As our student chapter’s representative to CSI-U this summer, I hoped to attain some insight into what actually goes on at these events with the expectation of reporting back to my fellow students and getting them interested in attending the convention in San Antonio, TX, next summer.
Ashley Cross (upper right) helping her team build
the South Central Region CSI entry.
While attending some of the other conference events we had, as a team, the opportunity to meet other students and CSI members. Giving everyone a chance to network and just make new friends. Being a part of a contingent team from South Central Region offered a unique perspective. Having only a night to become acquainted forced us to become a team in only a few hours.
As the representative of our chapter I attended a Presidents Breakfast and was able to hear discussions on what CSI is trying to accomplish this year, programs and goals, and how our smaller chapters can help. This convention really showed me what CSI is all about and how everyone can make a difference no matter how small.
My only suggestion would be to offer some sort of mixer for all the students to be able to get acquainted before the design competition, or even after the actual competition. That way the teams would be able to talk with and congratulate each other on their designs. And it would also give the younger participants an opportunity to socialize with each other. Overall, a great experience that I would highly recommend to other students, especially July 2004 in SAN ANTONIO!!!