Student Club Design: Lessons In Leadership
Some of the world’s most advanced aircraft were developed during the Cold War by a small team of engineers. The ability to bypass red tape and work autonomously makes Lockheed Martin’s “Skunk Works” division an important case study in efficient engineering. Someday we may be able to hook up our brains to an Artificial Super Intelligence and rapidly construct complex feats of engineering, but for the time being engineers must learn to work with others. All major accomplishments in engineering have been achieved by the collaborative efforts of a team, large or small.
Engineering firms typically prefer to hire recent graduates with practical experience working in teams and stumbling through the design cycle. For student engineers, the process of gaining real-world experience through internships or part-time employment can be onerous and disheartening. By sharing my experiences in four student clubs, I hope to demonstrate the benefits of club involvement and communicate valuable lessons in team building, engineering skills development, and leadership.
I began my sophomore year at BYU after a two-year break from school. Two of my best friends remained in school while I was away, so by the time I returned they were both near graduation. As I learned about their academic journeys, I couldn’t help but feel like I was lagging behind. Eager to “catch up,” I asked them for advice on how to have a productive undergraduate experience. One of them recommended joining a club. He had become the president of BYU’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and led their team in organizing various club activities. AIChE-BYU is nationally recognized for its outstanding participation rates.
Naturally, over the following week I decided to join not one, not two, but eight student clubs. These initial groups included sports clubs (Pickleball), academic associations (BYU Racing: Formula E), and social clubs (French Club). Maybe it was when my roommate told me, “Sheesh man! You’re like the king of clubs!” that I realized I went a little overboard. Gradually, I dropped the clubs in which I was less involved or which required too much commitment.
During the first Formula E meeting, the fledgling club was being organized into subteams. It was only a few months earlier that a car-loving PhD student had formed the club after years of BYU Racing inactivity. The team captain had an infectious love of racing and encouraged all newcomers to stick around despite initial uncertainty. Although worried about my lack of hard skills, I joined the chassis subteam and tried teaching myself Fusion360, a CAD software package. The weekly team meetings were informative and engaging. I remember the team captain’s response to my complaint that not only did I feel like I couldn’t contribute anything to the team, but I also lacked a passion for cars. He told me, “Race engineers are the most versatile and competent engineers out there, and we are going to make the best engineers on campus. Just focus on spending 20 minutes a day in Fusion360 and you’ll be caught up in no time.” These inspiring words were enough to keep me motivated.
If you are a student, or if students ask you, “How can I get practical engineering skills?” this is an important point — student engineers can learn valuable skills like CAD and machining by getting involved in a club. If you are pursuing a career in aerospace, automotive, biomedical or mechatronic engineering, it may be worth looking into existing clubs at your school or in your community.
It should also be noted that getting worthwhile experience from a student club requires substantial grit and intrinsic motivation. There are rarely extrinsic forces keeping you involved (e.g., no contract or wages), so if you don’t have a passion for the club’s project or outcome, you may be wasting your time. There are many ways a student’s academic career can benefit from club involvement, and each student should consider their goals and undergraduate objectives. Are you able to get an internship you want? Would it be worthwhile to build a relationship with a professor? Is networking with other students important? Consider these questions and investigate available clubs.
The leadership traits displayed by the Formula E team captain highlight a particularly important aspect of club building: vision. Most clubs have an unstable pool of participants. This fragility means that there must be someone who can inspire and encourage others to remain engaged—someone who is focused on whatever goals the club strives towards (aiming for nothing is a sure way to miss). Many social movements draw large participation rates simply because of the human desire to be a part of something. An effective club leader has a clear, powerful and infectious vision of the future. The Formula E club, which had about 10 participants when I was a member, now has more than 100 and is competing at the international speedway in Michigan this year.
The Pickleball club was led by a graduate student with undeniable love for the sport and for the people involved. He was willing to spend time and energy to grow the club, lobbying for new equipment, raising awareness, and building the leadership team. The club was active and had many participants: Saturday morning saw more than 50 people come out to the BYU tennis courts to play round-robin rotating pickleball matches. The leader was friendly, organized and importantly he held the President title for a few consecutive years. It takes time to build community and familiarity. He took great care in preparing the vice-president to become his replacement. There is a decent amount of information for student club leaders to know about fundraising, event planning, hosting guests and making purchases. Many clubs dwindle into inactivity because of a discontinuous leadership chain. So here is the next idea: smooth transitions of power between highly committed individuals help a club succeed over the long term. A successful club leader thinks beyond their own tenure; if the cause is sincere, longevity is critical.
Eventually, I desired my own experience as a club leader. COVID left many clubs inactive, so scrolling through the club list on BYU’s website I discovered “Mindfulness and Meditation.” There were no consistent club meetings and no leadership team. Every club at BYU has a faculty advisor, and this club’s advisor was Dr. Jared Warren, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology. I met with him and he told me that the club went through periods of inactivity, but every so often a “student champion” came through, and he would be happy to help me get things started again. I did not expect the club resuscitation process to be so tedious. Hunting down forgotten passwords and previous members and slow communication with the club office dragged this process out for weeks. I learned that when starting a club (or any team), the start-up phase can be long and challenging.
I had little desire to run the show by myself, so Dr. Warren recruited some of his students to join the leadership team. We came up with a generic plan: organize an event, market the event and pray that people show up. Sadly, but perhaps expectedly, no more than 3 people came to our first two activities, all friends of the leaders.
The lack of participation made sharing the importance of mindfulness even more important to me, so I decided my goal for the club was to double the record of event attendees in club history (which was only about 10). Over the next few months, I learned an important principle: nothing motivates students like free food. I asked my two presidency members to become co-presidents, believing this would alleviate the stress I felt around planning these events. Then, as a triumvirate, we planned a Pizza Meditation Party. Twenty-five people came to mindfully enjoy Costco pizza (yes, eating meditation is a real thing). After this event, a handful of students returned to the next club meetings without expectation of nourishment.
Reflecting on my experience with Dr. Warren, I must acknowledge the importance of delegation. This article is largely about teamwork, and I learned in the Mindfulness and Meditation club about the importance of having committed team members. I didn’t have the skills or time to make everything happen, and delegating responsibilities made all the difference.
Currently, I am the leader of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers student association at BYU. Our goal is to improve the mechanical engineering experience for students by providing valuable opportunities and experiences, such as an annual networking dinner and resume workshops. Trying to incorporate all the principles I learned in previous clubs has been challenging but rewarding. Launching a club, or any team, is difficult. The leadership team must be persistent, dedicated and willing to sacrifice. It doesn’t hurt to have a budget. For our last activity of this past year, we planned a resume workshop with a photo booth and recruited career counselors. Before the event, our vice president noted, “I think people will come, because this event is providing real value to students.” This leads to our last principle: Membership in a team or club should provide real value to those involved. It’s easy to organize events with no real purpose or waste time in meetings. Finding opportunities to provide meaningful services is a crucial aspect of club design.
As I’ve journeyed through these groups, I’ve learned that effective leadership in any organization is built upon three things: vision, continuity and value. Whether it’s by spending time with new recruits, gathering pickleball players, or championing mindfulness, successful leadership lies in the dedication to help others grow. Building a thriving community isn’t just about hosting events or expanding the leadership team, it’s about creating a space for individuals to learn, improve and connect with others. Engineering is a field that requires more teamwork than many other fields. Although the core of engineering is about solving technical problems, it is the human aspect—our ability to collaborate, inspire, and support one another—that truly drives innovation and success.
