In 1964, I was looking for a college where I could complete a degree using my two years of community college and year of veterinary medical school. There were very few women back then and I had a friend (male) who had gone from my community college to Tech with full credit for classes taken. Heavy in Science, I loved Tech. Coming from Chicago I enjoyed the weather too.
Tech had everything I needed and gave me a very well-rounded education. And my degree helped me get into graduate school too.
Sanna Messinger Roling, ’67
Hi Sanna, Glad Tech was a great fit for you. Thanks for checking in! -SB
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Scott,
Nice to see the profile on Anton Pintar. He was “hands down” the best professor I had the privilege to learn from during my four years at Tech. He had a gift for making unit operations interesting. Hardly a day has gone by during my last 36 years of chemical engineering that I have not used something he taught me.
Fred Sansom BSChE 1980
- Hi Fred, It’s amazing how our best teachers give us tools for a lifetime. Thanks for sharing! -SB
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You asked for “First Week (at Tech) Memories” in your August 30 edition. Here’s mine.
The first afternoon of Freshmen Orientation in September 1963, the entire freshman class was gathered into Sherman Gym. The featured speaker was the MCMT President, Doctor Van Pelt. He opened his address, “Men” (a very safe thing to say in 1963 since the male to female ratio was 35:1). “Men, look at the man on your left and the man on your right. In June of 1967, one of the three of you will graduate from this institution.”
The following Monday, most of us were introduced to the first of the great MCMT “Freshman Sieves,” aka CH-101 with Doc Berry. Like all of us prompted by Dr. Van Pelt, I looked at the man on my left and the man on my right, and in June of 1967, I was the one of the three of us to graduate.
Welcome to da Tech, Class of 2020.
Pete Dohms, ’67
Hi Pete, Glad you made it! And I’m pleased to say our male to female ratio has greatly improved. -SB
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How come I went to Tech?
My original home is the Northwest side of Chicago, Illinois. I have a good friend from that neighborhood in a person by the name of Don Sprigings. We both went to the same high school and this is how we both went to Tech.
In 1947, I was going to my first year of college at Whitewater Wisconsin State Teachers College while at the same time Don was finishing his last year in High School. We had applied for admission to both Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin, but were still looking for a college that was mainly all engineering.
In late 1947, we both went to a neighborhood New Year’s Eve party and met David and Paul Uitti who were from a high school district just to the north of ours and found out that they were going to go to Tech in September of 1948.
It turned out that their parents were from the UP and their father had come to Tech and was an engineer working in downtown Chicago. After much discussion, we all applied to MCMT and started in the September 1948 in Mechanical Engineering and moved into Douglas Houghton Hall.
I finished in 1951 and the others in 1952, all with BSME degrees.
After graduation, we all went our separate ways, but Don and I kept in touch from about 1952 to 1978 when I received a call from him indicating that the company he worked for had purchased a Compressor Remanufacturing Company in Phoenix. Don was called on to handle the manufacturing, but had no contacts in the HVAC Industry and I did so we got together in Phoenix working in this division until we both retired.
Don is gone now, but his wife Ginny (also from the same high school) is still here and we get together for lunch and MCMT and Chicago talk.
Also, Don and I tried to get our sons to go to Tech, but no luck. My son Jim went to Arizona State, son Chris went to Western Illinois, and Don’s son Ken went to Virginia Tech.
End of story.
Ed Volker ’51
-Hi Ed. Thank you for sharing your Tech story. Glad you had a chance to work with Don. My best to you. -SB