Kyle Lindeman

EDPS 105

McCan

10 October 2020

Student Interview

1. Another student I chose to interview on September 30th was Robbie Beeler, who is a 5th

year senior at Purdue, who is majoring in Environmental Ecology Engineering (EEE).

Due to personal preference, my interviewee has told me to use his google email instead of

his Purdue email for the sake of contact information (robbiebeeler98@gmail.com).

2. Beeler’s story as to how he is here in environmental ecology engineering started when he

decided to transfer before senior year from his former major, which was chemical

engineering. The backstory as to why he decided to make that change was because prior

to making the official change, he expressed heavy disinterest and no longer having fun in

chemical engineering all together, and this is coming from a man who also said that he

has a blast doing chemistry classes. He pointed to the reason for this change being he

wanted to use his love for chemistry and choose a career path that would entitle more

application of new ideas. In addition, he also loves the idea of nature around him and

wants to be in a career that he not only likes but is up and coming in terms of popularity.

3. When being addressed on what classes are normally like, Beeler described the size of

classes truly being dependent on the class you take, placing a wildcard factor into this

major given how much it can vary. He was certain however in how the classes were

constructed and the type they were. Almost all the classes he took were book, theory, lab,
 and recitation based early in the major. As you are further down the road in this major,

Beeler asserted that there are more lecture-based classes as opposed to labs and

recitations.

4. Beeler quickly pointed to organic chemistry as his favorite class. His reasoning behind

such a decision was because it came naturally to him from the moment he enrolled and it

made the most sense to him, making stress less of a trouble for this class. He expressed

how fun he had when doing labs for that class and how his enjoyment for chemistry

translated to an interactive activity.

5. In terms of his least favorite class however, Beeler sounded disgusted when talking about

the experience he had in thermodynamics. He supported that decision by indicating that

the class is only theory-based, the concepts were difficult for him to get a grasp on and

defining systems in this class made it tough conceptually. The math in that class

combined with all these factors was the kiss of death in terms of what made this class

hard for him. So much so, it took him 2 semesters for him to complete the course and was

quick to point out that he would not take that class again.

6. When boiling down the core abilities and skills a student needs to be good in this major,

Beeler was confident and found the main ones easy to identify based off his years of

experience. The first skill he emphasized was the need for good time-management skills.

He was not vague however in his description, because he specifically pointed to the

things you can do every moment to make the most out of your time being the best asset

for a student moving forward in college. The second core skill is the need for resilience,

because Beeler was blunt when saying the classes in this major will not be a cakewalk for

anyone, regardless how smart or interested you are. A key takeaway that really stuck to
 me was that he told me not to worry about my exam scores that much like a high school

student should. He said that if you do the work and show that you care about a class, you

will be perfectly okay. He also warned to not treat college learning like high school

because philosophies of how to do things in high school do not work very well in a

college setting. Finally, the third skill Beeler stressed was the need for good problem-

solving ability. In particular, he stressed the need to think outside the box for the sake of

being in a major such as engineering and expressing creative solution ideas in to reach

the goals and products a student may strive and work for.

7. Beeler’s projected plans after his graduation is to start up a new business in the field of

environmental ecology and he does not have plans to go to grad school after graduating.

Beeler said that graduate school in this major is not at all common unless you are going

to use this major in a setting of law. When discussing the type of careers that can come

from this major, he identified the headline careers into two separate classes, traditional

and industrial. Traditional careers consist of wastewater treatment engineer, air quality

emission engineer, soil engineer, and landfill engineer. Industrial careers on the other

hand consist of being an enforcer of environmental policy, assessing ISO standards, and a

life-cycle engineer (LCE) among others. There is variety of careers that can come out

from this major and it is not triangulated to a certain group of engineers.

8. When Beeler was asked about what extracurricular activities are available for students

who have interest in environmental ecology engineering, he strongly suggested utilizing

the amount of student organizations there are on campus and joining the vast amounts of

clubs there are on campus. Examples of such clubs and organizations he describes stem

to the Go-Green Community, the Society of Environmental and Ecological Engineers

 (SEEE), and the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE), and

the valuable experience you can extract from an internship in this field of study. Beeler

personally applied for an internship that is related to this major and was quite content and

gratified when talking about how much he learned from working in a position that is tied

to a heavy interest of his, the environment in his case.

9. When asking Beeler about his major change from chemical engineering to EEE, my

personal question brought out the importance of money to him in all the steps to get him

to where he is. He smirked and simply said that projected money should not be the

primary catalyst towards deciding a major. Beeler himself dealt with this scenario; he

chose chemical engineering before freshman year at Purdue because he saw that chemical

engineers at the time of him being a freshman make $70,000 as a starting salary after

college. He slowly realized that the decision to pursue chemical engineering was not a

smart decision because it was not what he truly wanted to do for his whole life. Beeler

asserted that his desire to want to have fun in what he does for a living outweighed his

desire for money during his junior year, which prompted him to make the change that he

felt was best for his future. He summarized his thought to just a simple point, money you

will make should be not be the number one factor to consider when deciding, because

you do not want to be miserable for however long you plan to work. He provided more

wisdom further by saying a college degree will get you at minimum at $45,000 annual

earnings as compared to a high school degree job would, around $30,000. To this day,

Beeler believes his decision to choose joy over money has worked out in his favor and

will continue to do so moving forward.

10. As my interview with Robbie Beeler concluded, I had many takeaways from it that I

think will prove to be meaningful. Even if I do not see myself pursuing a major in this

field like I use to, I still think his wisdom in general was worth doing an interview. First,

he has given me a student’s perspective on how to look at a career and debunks my habit

of prioritizing projected money and told me that money should not at all be the main

reason to choose a major. I also learned from this interview that it is okay to change, it

will not be seen as a failure and you just have to know what is best for you for the sake of

your happy future after college. He had to take a class twice and he is still going to

graduate so failing a class is not the end of the world. After my interview will Beeler, I

personally believe I can use the advice he gave me and tactically make decisions with

more comfortability and not feel terrible about a class if I just put in the work needed to

succeed whilst showing initiative to do good as well. Even if the major Beeler is in may

not be the one I choose to pursue, I think his advice about how to decide a major and how

to handle myself when push comes to shove will be powerful enough to push me forward

in the right direction. This interview was a success, and I am happy with the information

and ideas that I collected for my personal benefit.