ROMANIAN TEEN’S DETERMINATION LANDS SPOT AT USU’S ENGINEERING STATE
High school juniors who participate in Utah State University’s summer Engineering State program complete an application process that includes writing an essay and producing transcripts documenting their efforts in upper level math and science classes. A chore for some, perhaps, but hardly a rigorous hurdle for the seven-day camp that pairs teens with Utah State professors for an action-packed introduction to engineering studies and campus life.
But for 17-year-old Florin Mingireanu from Romania, attending Engineering State is the result of a dogged pursuit that involved not only gaining entry into the college orientation program, but raising funds for the trans-Atlantic journey.
“Florin learned about Engineering State from our Web site and was determined to attend. He just wouldn’t give up,” said Vicky Olsen, program coordinator for the event, scheduled for June 11-15 on the university’s Logan campus.
Initially, Olsen felt that the costs for Mingireanu’s participation would be insurmountable. Intitiated 12 years ago, she explains, Engineering State was developed to introduce students in the Intermountain region to engineering programs at Utah State. The majority of the participants are Utahns, with a small percentage attending each year from such neighboring states as Idaho and Wyoming.
Utah State, which accepted 286 participants for this year’s gathering, recruits corporate sponsors to cover the $350 per-student cost of the program. Participants pay only a $50 registration fee and are responsible for their own transportation to and from the conference site.
“To my knowledge, we’d never had an applicant from overseas,” said Olsen. “We appreciated Florin’s interest, but just couldn’t see a way to get him here.”
Mingireanu and his parents didn’t have the resources to cover his travel and visa costs; together, his mother and father earn the equivalent of about $220 per month. But that didn’t deter the teen, who recently completed his final year of secondary studies in Romania’s public school system. His email pleas for financial assistance traveled from NASA to the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., to Utah State’s Space Dynamics Laboratory, where his request landed on the desk of deputy director Frank Redd.
“I was impressed with the young man’s tenacity and felt he deserved a chance to participate,” said Redd. “Heck, maybe I just felt sorry for the kid.”
Using proceeds from last year’s Small Satellite Conference, Redd rounded up funds to cover Mingireanu’s travel costs. Mingireanu will arrive in Utah June 6 and return to Romania June 18. Olsen is arranging for a local family to host the teen during his visit.
“Engineering State is a great program,” said Redd. “I think it’s a good idea to involve some international students and introduce more diversity into the gathering.”