Three eSAB members painting national board Husker red

Changes within its own ranks have helped UNL’s Engineering Student Advisory Board (eSAB) start making an impact at the national level.

After having gone years without even one of its students on the executive and regional boards of the National Association of Engineering Student Councils (NAESC), UNL will have three of those 23 positions next year.

That’s more than any other school has had in recent memory and it is reflective of UNL’s rapid rise to prominence, said Sara Hutcheson, former eSAB president and a senior in biological systems engineering.

It also gives UNL students more opportunity to have an impact at other schools across the country.

“We all do similar things at our universities. A lot of it is getting engineering out there and getting students involved in their colleges,” said Scott Schenkelberg, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and former NAESC Midwest Regional director. “This gives us a chance to tell people how things work well at UNL and, maybe, they can do some of the same things at their school.

“Nebraska’s always been involved with NAESC, but this all started with Sara.”

At the 2013 NAESC Regional conference, Hutcheson was elected to the position of Midwest Regional director. For the 2014-15 school year, Hutcheson served on the executive board as vice president of recruitment and was succeeded by Schenkelberg as regional director.

Even though she graduates in May, Hutcheson accepted the nomination to the NAESC Board of Directors and Schenkelberg was elected vice president of relations. A third Nebraska Engineering representative – freshman mechanical and materials engineering major August McClenahan – will be the Midwest Regional Communications coordinator.

Hutcheson said eSAB’s rise in influence is attributable to a new energy inside the group.

“We had trouble a few years ago that eSAB people weren’t interested (in NAESC) anymore. Once we got more involved in NAESC, we got more leaders showing up and more people wanting to be in eSAB,” said Hutcheson. “And that has led to more people being involved in their college.”

Nationally, eSAB’s rise caught the attention of other universities in much the same way a flood of red-clad Husker football fans takes over an opponent’s stadium on game day.

When the University of Illinois hosted the NAESC national conference a few years ago, eSAB sent 23 students. Most other schools had 10 or fewer attending and it was 20 more than UNL would usually send, Hutcheson said.

“All of a sudden, Nebraska’s here, and we were pretty loud,” Hutcheson said. “They haven’t forgotten us.”

The enthusiasm of eSAB also helped the group land the role of host for the 2014 Midwest Regional Conference last October and has been key in the group’s success in recruiting and retaining some of the best engineering students at UNL, Hutcheson said.

“Recruiting has changed since I first joined because eSAB was a much smaller organization. If you wanted to join, you got in,” Hutcheson said. “Just last year, for the first time, students had to apply to get in and we actually had to interview students. This year, we got so many applications that we had to turn a few people away.”

Schenkelberg said some of the group’s recent surge in popularity within the College of Engineering can be attributed to its connections to students, to faculty and, especially, to the administration.

“No other student organization has the direct ties to all three. That’s the perfect way to get something changed, to do new events, basically to make the college experience what you want it to be,” Schenkelberg said. “I don’t know of too many students in other colleges who can say ‘I sat down and met with the dean for an hour today.’ They don’t have that opportunity. Dean Wei is very supportive and wants to meet with us and hear from us because he knows we hear from the students.”

McClenahan, a freshman in mechanical and materials engineering, said joining eSAB has afforded him a sense of independence and accomplishment.

“In high school, I felt like no matter what you do, you have your hand held by an adult or somebody. When you come to college, you’re an adult and if you want to change something, you have the power to do that,” McClenahan said. “Within eSAB, that’s where a lot of power is to make those changes or to help someone.”

Now, Hutcheson said, the goal is for eSAB to maintain this momentum and keep up its numbers on the NAESC national board.

“Now I’d like to see Nebraska keep up the tradition and keep two members on executive board,” Hutcheson said. “We have to keep representing.”