BRETT ALTENA
"There are 10 types of people in the world, those who know binary and those who don't."
REFLECTIONS
Ethics Reflection
In CprE 394 Program Exploration, we attended a group meeting with faculty discussing issues of ethics in engineering. Specifically, we discussed the recent ethics issue with the Volkswagen emissions scandal in 2015. Afterwards we reviewed additional documents including the IEEE code of ethics and wrote a short reflection, which is included below:
General Education Reflection
In CprE 494 Portfolio, we discussed in class the benefits we received from our general education courses, which make up a required portion of our undergraduate curriculum. Specifically we reflected on how these courses broadened our perspectives and showed us the unsolved social issues currently present in our world.
Cumulative Reflection
In CprE 494 Portfolio, we also discussed in class our overall experience during our undergraduate studies. We considered how our experience differed from the original expectations we had before coming to this university, and we reflected on how our learning and depth of thought has improved during our post-secondary educational experience.
LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCES
PROJECT CYRIDE
Being tasked to plan a project to make a social change on the Iowa State University campus; I came up with the idea to install heaters in each CyRide bus stop shelter (As seen in the picture above). In Iowa, the winter generally lasts for 4 months; in order to improve morale of students so that they’ll attend classes I thought that the simple act of installing heaters would improve student life. Talking to the representatives of CyRide led to the knowledge that this plan is very  feasible, because each year $45K is designated towards bus stop maintenance and enhancements. This project would only take one third of the budget for a single year for installation into all the bus stops, and a small amount to power them daily through the winter months. I go farther in depth in my paper, if you would like to know more, feel free to email me or by downloading my paper.
MISSION TRIP: KENYA
In September 2016, I went to the Engineering Study Abroad fair and impacted my life in a major way. I met Martin Thou, the coordinator of an engineering study abroad trip to Nairobi, Kenya. Though the trip was not technically approved yet, my enthusiasm and optimism were high, so I petitioned for the trip up till March. Unfortunately, the trip was approved, but it was approved too late so they could not offer the second half semester class that went along with the trip. At this point I had already started to learn and practice Swahili and I had joined the African Students Association where I could learn as much African culture as I could. However, I would not let this be an end to my trip to Africa, in the summer (2017) I planned to do a mission trip in various villages within Kenya. I bought the plane ticket, and hopped on halfway through July to make my way towards Kenya alone.
Throughout the trip, I met with various people and families who lived within the villages. With the help of an employee instructed to guide me, I was able to communicate with the local people. The adults had known English and Swahili, but the children at the elementary school grew up learning a language called Luree, so I had to think innovatively of new ways of communicating with the children. Throughout the trip, I taught the children stories about the bible and about American culture, and in return they taught me their culture. I left them art supplies, kick balls, and sports equipment for their elementary school, and made my way back to America. This was a life changing experience being able to help people in a country 8000 miles away from home by myself, but to also learn in first person what daily life is like in Kenya. I plan to go back next semester to visit my friends there, and continue in other villages to spread the word of God. If you have any questions, feel free to email them, and I will respond as fast as I can.