Today we speak with Haley Schappell, a sophomore biomedical engineering major from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, who lives in Whitney Center apartments at Rowan. Haley will share her #PROFspective with us on what it’s like to be a Rowan University student and how she’s getting the most out of her college experience as a Rowan Prof.
Name: Haley Schappell
Major: Biomedical Engineering within the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
Year: Sophomore
Housing: On Campus Resident Whitney Center (Apartment-Style Residence Hall)
Minors or concentrations: Honors Concentration
Hometown and County: Fleetwood, Berks County, PA
Academic clubs: Biomedical Engineering Society and Society of Women Engineers. I am also a member of the engineering living community.
Athletic clubs: I play intramural soccer.
Do you work on campus? Yes, I work as an admissions ambassador in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. I mainly give tours to prospective students and work at open houses and accepted students receptions. I also work in the office and help with the mail and data entry.
Why did you choose your major? I chose biomedical engineering because I loved biology as well as math. All of the science fields interested me and I wanted to pursue a career in STEM. I also want to help others and advance medicine and biomedical engineering will allow me to do that.
One reason why you chose Rowan? I chose Rowan for a lot of reasons but one would be because of the small class size and the relationships that I can build with my professors here.
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My Typical Day as a Rowan Student:
Most typical college students will roll out of bed in the morning, make coffee, and be out the door in fifteen minutes flat. For me that is just not possible. I require a solid 40 minutes to fully wake up before heading to class. It may seem silly to wake up so early when I could sleep in later, but I value the extra time where I get to sit down, eat breakfast and scroll through my social media in the morning. Once my roommates are functioning we will all walk to class together. I live with fellow engineering majors so we have several classes together, which is nice because we will all work on homework together.
Most days I’ll have breaks in between my classes. During those breaks I will either go work in the admissions office or find a spot to get some homework done. While working in the admissions office I’ll help with data entry, sorting mail, and most importantly give campus tours. I love giving campus tours to prospective students and I love sharing why I chose Rowan. Being an admissions ambassador is a phenomenal on campus job and I enjoy every minute of it. I typically give tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I am not working in the admissions office I will normally find a nice place to sit and get work done in Science Hall in between classes. Being a biomedical engineering major, a lot of my classes are in Science Hall. A perk of working in there is the café that is on the first floor. I normally will get lunch there when I am doing homework. I highly recommend the mac and cheese, it’s my favorite.
One of my favorite but most challenging classes is my engineering clinic. During class we work on our technical writing skills and work in teams to solve a given problem. This semester each team was given the same problem, create an underwater remote operated vehicle that performed a variety of tasks. Currently, my team and I have designed a prototype and evaluated it and now we are making corrections and adding new elements. We use computer modeling and physical testing to test our design and we get a lot of hand on experience. The design process can be frustrating at times but I love the feeling of satisfaction when our prototype works.
Once I am done with classes for the day I will ofte
n head to the Rec Center to work out. My
favorite thing to do at the Rec Center is the group fitness classes. I love Insanity! It is a crazy bodyweight workout. Another great class is BodyPump. This class is centered around weight lifting but adds a great cardio element to it. If I can’t make it to a fitness class I’ll head upstairs to the free weight room or if the weather is nice I’ll go for a run. Working out is an escape for me and I always feel so good afterwards.
Of course after a busy day I am starving. Depending on the day I will either grab something to eat on campus or my roommates and I will cook. On campus I love to grab a Jersey Mike’s sub or a burrito, and when I’m feeling really healthy I’ll stop for a salad. On the nights that my roommates and I cook I tend to volunteer to clean up because I am not the best at cooking, but I’m working on it. I try to maintain a balanced diet, but I do love to go to the Yogo Factory for a treat every now and then.
With any time I have left I’ll finish up homework and relax a bit. I also try to attend engineering club meetings on Fridays. I mainly attend Biomedical Engineering Society meetings where we discuss new engineering technologies, career advancement skills, and other BME related topics. Oh, and on Thursdays at 8 p.m. it’s Grey’s Anatomy time, that’s a priority. My schedule may seem busy to some people but I wouldn’t change a thing. I have a great balance of work and fun, and I know when to power through and work and when to take a break. I am very happy with how my first three semesters at Rowan have gone and I am excited for the future semesters and beyond.
We are #RowanPROUD and we are Rowan Profs! Not exactly sure what a Prof is? It’s our owl mascot, Whoo RU. Read about him here.
Story organized by: Jen Green