Happy New Year, FIRST Family!
My name is Juanitta Bekoe and I’m a sophomore Aerospace Engineering student at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. In high school, I was president and CAD sub-team lead of Teams FRC#6871 and FTC#16245 - The QC DogSquad - from Queen Creek, Arizona. My experiences with FIRST have greatly helped me to pursue my interest in engineering here in college.
One of my favorite classes so far has been Engineering Materials, Properties and Processing with Dr. Michelle Blum, who’s the program director for Mechanical Engineering and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. If you study Mechanical Engineering at Syracuse, she’ll be one of your first engineering professors! In Materials, we’ve covered the 4 pillars of materials science, the atomic microstructures of metals, polymers and ceramics, and the environmental ethics and impacts that engineers must consider when implementing their solutions in the real world.
I met many of my closest friends through our Engineering and Computer Science Living Learning Community during my freshman year at Syracuse. This was a great opportunity to live with other engineering and STEM students to do homework and study together. I highly recommend you choose this for your freshman year housing if you join us at ‘Cuse!
Outside of my studies, I am involved in many student organizations on campus! I am on the aerodynamics sub-team of our SAE Formula racing team, Citrus Racing, and I am a member of our college chapters of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Outside of engineering, I am a dancer and choreographer for Creations Dance Company, one of the many amazing performing arts groups on campus!
FIRST is what introduced me to Syracuse as a viable college option back in 2019, and now I’m a FIRST Scholar here! You could be considered for this scholarship, too! Be sure to fill out the FIRST form on our college’s website so Syracuse has a record that you’re a FIRST student. Syracuse offers $25K/year renewable FIRST Scholarships to selected admitted students who participate in FIRST Tech Challenge or FIRST Robotics Competition. Syracuse uses the Common Application.
Wishing you an awesome FIRST season! Go Orange!
Juanitta “AJ” Bekoe ‘24