Author: Josh Goodreid
Editor: Matthew Hoover
Some of students biggest questions when it comes to student organizations are do I need background knowledge, is this club right for me, am I going to benefit from attending? Although these ultimately decide if a student is going to join a club or not, students should consider that more and more employers are hiring students on what they can do, not so much on how well they did in class (Hegedus). Joining a student organization shows employers that students have learned about more than just what is in a classroom. Do students really care about this? Hopefully we can change some minds by showing what the Baja club is all about, and by the end of this we will see how joining this or any student organization helps with resume building, devolving life experience and building communication skills.
The general purpose of this project was to inform students of the benefits of joining a student organization. The more specific purpose is to show the UW Stout Baja student organization and how people can learn valuable life skills by joining them or any student organization. Below is the podcast and transcript. In it, the members of the Baja organization explain about the club, what the club has accomplished, when they meet, and why people should join.
[laughter]
Colin: See someone just needs to record this and we’d have a reality show before we know it
Josh: This is the content I subscribed for
Josh: All right so welcome to this podcast for English 102 about a, the SAE Baja student organization, is it okay if I call it that, I’m not going to get kicked out, alright so why don’t we start, you guys introduce yourself.
AJ: I am AJ Hoft I’m the lead driver and the human resources department of the Baja team.
Jason: I’m Jason Richardson I am the lead designer.
Colin: I am Colin Mittelstaedt and I am the President of SAE Baja.
Josh: what are your guys’ grades, like a.
AJ: I’m a sophomore.
Jason: I’m a senior.
Colin: I’m a junior.
Josh: All right, would you guys like mind giving a quick description of what the podcast, sorry, what the organization is, like in general.
Colin: I guess a brief overview is we design, build, and test a small off-road vehicle, so throughout the course of the Year Jason here oversees our design team, so go through and completely design a car from scratch, from there we move into actually manufacturing and Fabricating, said car, from the ground up, and then once we have a completed car we then take it out to test, whether that’s at our own test facility or around the country at different events.
Josh: All right, do any of you guys know like when the organization actually started at all?
Jason: I think it was around the year 2000, is when the club officially started that’s as far back of records as we have, and that’s basically because our own event is 20 years old.
Josh: And then how long have you guys been in the club for?
AJ: I started last year.
Jason: It’ll be my, I think this is my third year.
Colin: I think so, I think this is my third year and you came in a semester after me so, after backwoods, so like 3 years, something like that.
Jason: Well like a month after you.
Josh: All right so what are like your guys’ roles of the club and what are like other roles in the club.
AJ: Well personally I help oversee manufacturing as well as deal with a lot of people management, I’m also in addition to being the lead driver myself, I assist in managing the other drivers and helping them come up with strategies and stuff
Jason: My main roll is the lead designer so I oversee the entire design team, we were lucky to get more of a design team this year which helped a lot because we struggled with a couple rules, but then I also drive, so technically I’m under AJ but at the same time I’m over AJ in some aspects, so it’s, we kind of fight a little bit.
Colin: I mean I kind of oversee everything what’s going on, I got my hand in just about every single part that goes on around here, yeah I mean everything from management to paper work, I’m the main point of contact for the school to the club, as well as I also manufacture and fabricate stuff as well, so I’m all over the place.
AJ: As far as a other roles for the club go, we have an entire media Department that basically creates all our graphic design and video and that kind of stuff, as well as we have manufacturers, people that assemble stuff, work on stuff, as well as design and management
Jason: And a lot of people mix between different things, like a lot of our design team goes out now and is helping out with manufacturing making sure the car is running right, making sure the new car is going good.
Josh: So like helping out where they’re needed and stuff, I know you guys were saying you have your own event but what other events are there I mean including your own if you’d mind elaborating a little bit on what your guys is event is?
Colin: I mean so throughout the years, so typically will start off with midnight Mayhem which is it down in Louisville Kentucky so we’ll go down there that one’s typically end of September early October from there we go to late October into possibly November for our own event Backwoods Baja which is hosted like 20 minutes from here in Eau Gallie from there we go till middle of February we have blizzard, then we go up to Michigan Teck and we compete at Holton to race up on the snow there, and then from there we go till typically around April sometime is our Nationals event and that one is all over the place, this year is Arizona and we’ve been to Tennessee, Maryland, kind of all over the place
Jason: I think in the past we’ve gone to Rochester New York; I think they’ve gone to Kansas and I think Madison hosted one time, that’s probably like 10 years ago.
Josh: And those are kind of like the main ones, and so like Baja backwoods is your event?
Colin: Yeah Backwoods we host.
Josh: So, is it run by you guys is it is it funded by you guys?
Colin: Yeah, we did all the promoting for it, we did all the organization behind it, contacting other teams, getting other team setup and running it’s all done by us.
AJ: Essentially we do everything, even very high level, like we do everything from the organization, getting notice of the other teams all the way down to like we were the people in the pits tecking people, pushing people out of the mud with four wheelers that kind of stuff, as well as race design and that kind of stuff, track design, track work.
Josh: So you were saying you get other people to come, obviously to your event like, like where does this group sit, this organization Baja sit like over Wisconsin, like is there other schools that have similar to this when you go to Nationals, what other teams are there?
Jason: So, well when we, so last time I checked on the registration for Nationals in a Arizona there were probably 7 teams from Mexico as well as India, and then there were South American teams, I think they were also an Israeli team, but for locally the only Baja clubs around us are all, would be UW Milwaukee, Madison, and Platteville, oh yeah and Marquette.
Josh: That’s crazy so like when you go to Nationals how is that set up, like how many people are there?
Colin: So it’s a hundred teams a hundred cars, each team has a single car it’s a multi-day event, so we’ll start out with stuff as simple as just getting the car through tech making sure it’s up to the rules all that kind of stuff as well as the first couple days we have sales presentations as well as design presentations, so presenting to the judges about why we chose to do certain things stuff like that, then we move on later in the week we’ll get into Dynamic events, so testing specific aspects of the car whether that be maneuverability or suspension and traction which is basically like rock crawling, to stuff like Hill Climbs, sled pulls, all that, kind of testing certain areas of the car and then on the last day we do a four hour endurance event or race.
Josh: Very cool, so like you were saying with Backwoods you guys run all that, how is that and the organization in general funded?
Colin: A lot of it’s through sponsors, outside sponsors, companies, we also get a portion of funding through SSA which is the student government here.
Josh: Is that for the club or is that for Backwoods or both?
Colin: Backwoods is underneath the club so, backwards is funded through the club, they’re not separate entities.
AJ: And Backwoods is actually a money-making device for us as well.
Colin: We use it as a fundraiser or fundraising event for the club.
Josh: Very cool, so to kind of sum up, what kind of people are you looking for now or like on a regular basis?
AJ: Honestly what we’re looking for is just motivated people, we have a role for just about anybody it doesn’t have to be an engineer, like we said, we have an art Department, we have plenty of business stuff, we obviously are mostly Engineers because there is a lot of design and a lot of work going on, but what we’re really looking for is people that’ll show up, and work, and be a benefit to the team, and then hopefully we can also teach some stuff along the way, it’s honestly a really good Resume Builder for anybody.
Jason: And even if like they’re a business or an art major or something like that, even if it’s like they want to work with their hands or something like that, that’s perfect, that’s a critical part of what we do, to be able to work with your hands and actually make parts.
Josh: That’s actually why I wanted to join. Anyway, you guys kind of answered like background knowledge that’s required, because I know a lot of it is working on stuff, like you said with your hands and mechanics and I know there’s also, with computer stuff, is there any knowledge you need for that, like the CAD design?
Jason: We don’t require it, actually at the beginning of the year we will help teach people how to use SolidWorks or any sort of CAD, FEA analysis, basically any software.
AJ: Yeah and that also extends to outside the software stuff, like in general you really don’t need a skill set as long as you come in and you’re particularly motivated, where we have a wide enough skill set, especially at the higher level of the club, that we can teach you just about anything you need to know for what we’re doing, it’s just whether or not you’re willing to listen and work basically, some good life skills.
Jason: I think the really cool part is that we kind of treat each other like family as well, and that if someone has a question about a homework assignment or something like that or they don’t get something we’re basically all tutoring each other on whatever thing that we specialize in or what we’re passionate in.
Colin: I think the biggest thing is attitude, as long as you bring a positive attitude to the club we are more than willing to bring you into the family and teach you what you need to know, what you need, anything like that, you just need a positive attitude or we don’t want you around.
Josh: And I was going to say like for some reasons like why to join I know there’s a study done by Dr. Knight at the University of Arizona and he and a student did a research of why students join student organizations and why they don’t join, and one of the most popular ones was leadership skills, the next one was resume, like you said build your resume, another one, to grow professionally and work with your hands, get better, and then the last one was friends, people said they join because of friends, and reasons not to join was they said because of time, they didn’t have enough time because of either school work or work was kind of the two main reasons, did you guys have that, do you deal with that I mean?
Data From – Dr. James Knight and Christine M. Hegedus
AJ: Yeah we deal with that quite significantly, especially when were up in the higher management levels, the Club is a large time commitment for us so it can definitely get challenging with time management but along the same vein not everybody has to do what we’re doing like you can be a member of the club and you can just show up to the two-hour of meetings per week.
Jason: Yeah and that’s basically how I started in the club was I just kind of showed up to the meetings and just sat at my computer and just started designing stuff.
Colin: That’s kind of how most people start because that’s how I started too, that’s just come to the meetings that was it, and as you grow with the club then you learn more you know more, and the invested time commitment becomes more and more, you know, up in the exec board and stuff like that takes, I spend a lot of time on Baja outside of meetings.
Jason: All three of us are lab techs.
Colin: Yeah as well as, most of the higher-ups in Baja are some sort of lab tech for one of the professors here at campus, whether it’s welding or machine or controls or you know fluids or anything like that.
Josh: Right, and on top of class and stuff, and speaking of like you were saying the best thing to do is come to meetings that’s the best place to start, when do you have meetings, when are your meet times?
AJ: So, we are Tuesday and Thursday, we start at 6:30 pm I’m usually are done by like 8:30-9 sometimes we’ll go later depending on the pressing issues and that kind of stuff.
Josh: And where is that.
Colin: Jarvis 160 Tech wing classroom.
AJ: And then our shop is next door down the hall.
Josh: And then my last question was kind of how long do you guys meet, is that normally like 2 hours do you go longer or shorter?
AJ: Yeah typically we go don’t go any shorter but depending on the workload like the nights before a race we can be here quite late but.
Jason: And we everyone doesn’t have to stay the whole time like we have a lot of members that come at 6:30 and leave at 7:30 because they have a lot of homework to do, or to be honest a lot of them like to go out drinking because Thursday nights, but yeah like you don’t have to stay the whole time
Colin: It’s not by the start time, it’s the end time that is kind of dictated by what you’re specifically doing that night, stuff like that, and so we don’t really have a set end time of like everyone leaves at, you know, this time it just kind of, you do what you need to do for the day and when you get done you’re free to go.
AJ: And that being the club is really independent, we’re not a club that just sits in a circle and talks the entire time, you come in for the first 15 minutes, you kind of get told what’s happening that night and you go do what you’re going to do, you help with where you can, and then if you have to do homework or you have to do something you’re more than welcome to do homework in the classroom and that kind of stuff too and just being part of it, but we also understand if you have to leave and go study.
Josh: Yeah that’s awesome thank you guys, to kind of finish off what is your favorite event or like specific event or day, just to kind of end off?
AJ: Previously, like the last two weeks was actually my favorite, we went up to Michigan and ran the blizzard Baja race and we’re actually able to finish first with our lead competition car that me and Jason are a part of the drive team on, and then as well as our slower car which is actually 10 years old we managed to pull off a third, out of 30 + cars and other colleges.
Jason: It’s more like 50 cars but yeah.
AJ: It’s hard to count them when they’re all behind you. [laughter]
Jason: Granted we did have to stop so you probably had to turn off the motor so you probably could have counted them all, but who would want to do that ever. [laughter] Mine would actually be I think it was fall of 2018 when we went to Louisville, Kentucky for the first time like Colin and I went and just two other guys on the team went with us and we rolled up by the small-school there, we just had a car, a 24 foot enclosed trailer, we were freaking sleeping in the trailer keeping the car parked outside, like a really cheap dirt track racer basically, and we actually won the event and it was like really, really fun to do that and we actually were so tired after, we brought all this alcohol with us because we were expecting to be partying it up and we were just tired after both nights and we were like we had one drink I think after we won and we are like yep we’re done, we’re exhausted we got to sleep in and then we were late.
Colin: I mean there were only four of us, so there was four of us to do everything that was driving, that was all the pit crew stuff, that was strategy, that was, you know, everything, maintaining the car there’s only four so we all were quite exhausted by the end of that.
Jason: Yeah and the drive there was not exactly the most fun.
Colin: I don’t know that I have a singular favorite moment, I mean, throughout my entire time at the club kind of been a rollercoaster, there’s definitely been really high, highs, you know, winning competitions and stuff like that, there’s also been some lows, it’s not always just, you know, parties and flowers and everything else, you know, there is at the end of the day we have to do work, we got to build a car, but I mean it’s just the experience, you know, I met Jason and I met AJ here through Baja.
Josh: What a bummer. [laughter]
Colin: We are most likely going to be friends for life. I mean 2 friends + more, you know, that will be with me for the rest of my life and had I not joined Baja and not done what I’ve done in Baja I might not have met them and not, you know, had this experience and had this ability to do what we do and I don’t know.
Jason: Yeah I kind of feel the same way too because like I know I joined Baja because I didn’t make the golf team my sophomore year, and I was bored off my mind for a month, so I was just like and I’ll go see what it’s like and what not, check it out, and I was just like, there were some things that the club wasn’t doing for car prep and right before a race and I’m like I think I need to stick around just so I that way I can do this myself.
AJ: Yep, I mean like I joined because I walked up on the first meeting and I manage to find another guy who drove dirt track race cars, you know, I showed up for the first meeting and.
Jason: He’s been giving me crap ever since.
AJ: Who would have known that you’d ended up racing 10hp Baja cars with your family and your best friends, not to get too sappy.
Jason: We’ve definitely had our lows.
Colin: I mean, yeah it’s not.
Jason: I know my first national trip was definitely a low for me as a designer but.
Colin: It’s part of running a race team, not everything goes your way not everything works the way you expected it to, and sometimes you have catastrophic failures and it sucks, it’s, I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it sucks, but you know at the end of the day eventually you get through it and we turn a car that went to Nationals and couldn’t even finish two years in a row, to now we won two competitions with that same car so.
Jason: So, we just don’t have any luck at the competition that we actually want to do well at. [laughter]
AJ: And honestly I think that’s a good life teaching in general, like in college in general you get to fail pretty safely, like there’s no, like at the end of the day college is hard but there is no consequences, and then you get thrown into the real world where there’s consequences and you don’t know where to go, this is a good place to learn what Consequences are because it’s not as bad as failing in the real world it’s like, you go out, let’s say he designed something wrong when he’s working on a fire truck or whatever, somebody dies, you get lawsuits that kind of the stuff, he failed something here, we lose a race, we’re all pissed at each other.
Jason: he’s pissed at me when the car brakes. [laughter]
Colin: There’ll probably be some shouting, they’ll be arguing.
AJ: So, there’s more consequences than just like failing a test but it’s, it’s a good learning.
Josh: Specially now, I would say just for me, I didn’t, I wasn’t going to join because I was like oh I’m a freshman, you know, what am I going to do there, what good is that and I didn’t really have any skill-set, I still don’t but I talked to Colin and he was, basically what he said, it’s not really about your skill-set and there’s so much you can learn here there’s so much you can gain and I mean I only been here for a little bit and I’ve learned so much and like you said it’s very important life skills and so might as well start, start now right.
AJ: I hope that we can provide that as well as hard skills and that kind of stuff too, like if you can come in here not knowing how to run an angle grinder and you can leave running an angle grinder without hurting yourself, you’ve learned a life skill.
Jason: Yeah and the cool part about how we run our meetings to is basically the first 15 minutes is like what’s happening and then kind of sending people on their merry way to see, to do their tasks, that’s kind of how your jobs going to be out of college it’s going to be your boss going to you and being like hey, go do this, you go do it and then if you’re done with it an hour early we don’t care you got it done.
Josh: Ill right that’s all I have for you guys thanks for a, thanks for coming on answering some questions hopefully we did answer some students questions, you know, want to join in if not this club hopefully they find a club because like I was saying with this study it definitely is worthwhile.
AJ: All I have to say is if you’re interested from what you herd here, stop by at one of the meetings, look us up and reach out.
Colin: Or reach out to one of us, will take care of you.
UW – Stout Baja Social Media
Jason: Or just reach out to any club just go don’t be afraid to talk to someone about it like I emailed the president of the club at the time and was like hey, can I stop by one day and just kind of see what the meetings are like, yeah sure, so I just stopped by.
Colin: Reach out, that’s all it takes one email, one text, one phone call whatever it is or just even showing up to a meeting, you know, when you find the time go ahead show up, you know, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to show you around like we have no problem showing people around, we did have one actually come in earlier tonight.
Jason: I think he’s still working actually to, he was in the shop, I know, doing some angle grinding.
AJ: So, if you’re going to do that just come in and ask for, probably ask for Colin or AJ and we’ll show you around, and get you taken care of.
Jason: Because he’s the HR. [laugher]
AJ: Yeah, I am HR, I’m supposed to direct that kind of stuff.
Josh: All right, well sounds good, that’s all I got, if you guys have any remarks or anything?
AJ: I don’t got anything.
Josh: [smacks table] Join the club, alright.
Jason: Thank you
Josh: Thank you guys, now I have to write that transcript [laughter]
Jason: Oh boy
References
Hegedus, Christine M. “Student Participation in Collegiate Organizations – Expanding the Boundaries.” Leadership Educators, 2002, www.leadershipeducators.org/Resources/Documents/Conferences/Lexington/Hegedus.pdf.
Huettenrauch, Tyler, director. UW-Stout Backwoods Baja Race 2017. Youtube, 1 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp1Fo4ji5mM.
Blizzard Baja SAE, director. Winter Baja 2020. Youtube, 15 Feb. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5P7QWT2gVM.
“Louisville Midnight Mayhem: Louisville, KY.” Louisville Midnight Mayhem | Louisville, KY, 2018, http://www.ulmidnightmayhem.com/.
Vargo, Olivia. “MTU Blizzard Baja Enterprise.” Blizzard Baja At MTU, baja.mtu.edu/.
All photos courtesy of UW-Stout Baja. JPEG File.
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