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Alumni

We like to keep up with our teammates who have graduated and left to enter the working world. Many of the students on our team find jobs through networking with Challenge X sponsors and organizers. Challenge X gives graduates real-world experience that enables them to enter the job force with more skill and experience.
 

Philip Conley
On the team from 2004 through 2005, Philip led the electrical team.

"Currently, I am employed with Delta Electric Power Association which has a main office in Greenwood, MS. I received a bachelor's in May 2003, and completed graduate work in May 2005. The Challenge X experience especially helped me in the management aspect of my employment. After supervising different teams and groups with Challenge X, the supervisor role in my current employment came without thinking. All the complexities of dealing with a project with multiple groups and factors were greatly reduced after going through an experience like Challenge X. Also, the Challenge X experience helped me with multi-tasking. In my current position, I am called upon to do a number of different assignments on a daily basis, and Challenge X helped prepare me for that challenge. My new job does not deal with automotives, but the skills gained during Challenge X carry over into any assignment that I have now. I do hope that the team progresses and finishes the course with great success. Even though no longer an active participant of the project, it is my sincere hope that end of the journey is a prosperous one."

 

Jimmy Mathews
Jimmy was apart of the team from 2005 through 2006.

"I work for a Tier I automotive supplier in the Detroit region. I am primarily involved in development of software algorithms for automotive controls. Additionally, I help in system integration tasks at various levels. I also support other design and development activities and I get to work with some very experienced and extremely talented engineers who've been in this field for the past few decades. I was on Challenge X from 2005 through 2006. I graduated with a master's degree in December 2006. ChallengeX provided me with some wonderful hands-on, real-project experience. Additionally, I got to meet some wonderful people from the industry, who are now like my personal friends. cX has been a Win-Win situation for everybody involved, including yours truly. Besides the technical aspect of things, Challenge X has taught me the importance of conforming to project requirements and technical specs to the minutest details within the specified time frame. As they say, "always dot your i's and cross your t's". I use this philosophy on a daily basis at work. All the very best to the newbies on the team and at the Year III competition!!"



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