Mira Naidoo Honors 100 AJ 10.27.

13 Assignment 3: Experiential Learning After one conversation with Lucas Heflin, you can tell he is a man of many and varied interests that he pursues with both enthusiasm and dedication. During our interview, which meandered from favourite colours, to future plans, and everything in between, it was clear that one of Lucass passions is engineering, which he plans to turn into an Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering degree. Currently, he is working towards that goal by taking some intensive math and physics courses, and supplementing these with a class about the philosophy of science. Outside of the classes hes taking to fulfill his degree requirements, Lucas is also brushing up his rsum by working under a Dr. Nolan in the A&A Engineering department on projects such as the ram accelerator and shock wave reactor (most of the explanation went over my head). Although it seems impossible with the workload hes undertaking, Lucas is also involved with the mock trial program at UW, impressing the group enough to be one of four freshmen accepted this year. Despite the activity being a far cry from his engineering interests, Lucas values the experience for its enhancement of his public speaking and communication skills, which will be invaluable in the future. Although this schedule is setting Lucas up for a distinguished path to his chosen major, it is preventing him from pursuing the sports interests he had in high school, like tennis, cross country, and soccer. Regardless, Lucas is a guy who knows himself very well and with his determination, can get any where he wants to. Reflecting on the course of our conversation, I actually have very little advice to offer Lucas in pursuing his educational goals; he seems to have a pretty solid plan going. With his

certainty as to where his future is headed, I can only say keep up the good work! I think that he should seek out more research opportunities or continue his line of work with Dr. Nolan. I would take the time to offer the general advice that he should take some classes or look for some extra curricular activities outside of the Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering field, much like his mock trial group. Lucas has already investigated the Design, Build, Launch RSO at the UW, so he already has an idea of how to pursue the Experiential Learning requirement from that angle. For an ambitious Experiential Learning experience that he could tailor to his more specific interests, Lucas could pursue further work in the aeronautics field with Dr. Nolan acting as an adviser. This can include guided work opportunities that may lead to honors or thesis work, or just independent research. Within the College of Engineering there are multiple research opportunities in the Autonomous Flight Systems lab, which seems in line with Lucass interests. There are multiple ways for Lucas to in his field while fulfilling his experiential learning requirement.