Being the chairman of the Make Program at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute looks great on a resume, but many other aspects of the role are even more rewarding.
Christopher Holland, a senior mechanical engineering student at the University of Utah and resident at Lassonde Studios, has been able to develop many professional and personal skills through his work in the Make Program, a space offered at Lassonde Studios where students have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in tools and are able to collaborate on a wide variety of projects.
Holland has always loved building models and working with 3-D printers. He chose to attend the University of Utah specifically for the opportunity to live at Lassonde Studios and take advantage of the Make Program’s resources.
His journey with the Make Program began with a position as a tool mentor before the Studios even opened. Within just a month of becoming a tool mentor, Holland was promoted to the director of prototyping for the Lassonde Institute. Recently, he took over the Make Program as the chair.
Holland’s involvement in the Make Program is helping him solidify career and professional goals. He aspires to be a Walt Disney Imagineer, focusing on both the technical and creative aspects of engineering and business. Although he has been interested in this career path for some time, he said the Make Program has helped him realize even more that it is what he wants to do.
“Lassonde keeps me very busy, and since I’m busy, I do better in school,” Holland said, explaining how being involved at the Lassonde Institute has also helped him in his classes. In addition to being a place he can work on his own projects, the Make Program also supplies him with motivation to keep going, both in and out of class, developing engineering and life skills.
More articles like this in ‘Student Innovation @ the U!’
Find this article and a lot more in the 2019 “Student Innovation @ the U” report. The publication is presented by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to celebrate student innovators, change-makers and entrepreneurs.
