This winter break, 9 students traveled to Ghana for a 10-day international breakout through the ETHOS Center.
As the ETHOS Center begins its 25th anniversary year, the center celebrates collaborative engineering innovation, reciprocal partnerships with community members and a transformative experiential learning opportunity for students. Founded in 2001 by students for students, ETHOS has grown from a student-led vision into a hallmark of the Marianist mission, collaborating with communities to advance social justice and create change for the common good.
The immersion experience comprised four teams of students, each having a dedicated mission and project for the breakout.
For Benjamin Schutte, a senior mechanical engineering student, the immersion was a lesson in technical adaptability and sustainable design. Working at King’s Village, Schutte’s team focused on providing clean, safe drinking water by upgrading an existing borehole with solar panels to create a renewable, cost-effective energy source. The project involved sourcing water from a deep pump into large filtration containers to replace the previously contaminated supply.
Schutte emphasized the importance of simplicity in their approach, noting that a straightforward design ensures long-term accessibility and sustainability for the community.
“Our priority was to maintain a streamlined engineering design to ensure the systems remain both accessible and sustainable for the local community,” Schutte explained.
Professionally, the immersion required him to overcome communication gaps and integrate the specialized techniques used by local experts to manage the region’s specific environmental challenges.
“It sparked my interest in how I can help more — what I can do locally and internationally to help others, no matter how little, whether through engineering or not,” Schutte said.
While Schutte focused on local infrastructure projects, Caroline Kawiecki, a junior chemical engineering student, worked with the STEM Camp Team. Her team’s mission was to encourage middle school students, particularly young girls, to pursue careers in science and engineering.
In a local society where women traditionally manage household chores and rarely pursue professional careers, Kawiecki utilized hands-on activities to teach complex math and science principles. One of her most impactful moments was speaking with a local girl who felt inspired to pursue a medical career after seeing a woman in STEM firsthand.
“Our purpose was to show this is possible for themselves, not a choice they should make,” Kawiecki explained, emphasizing respect for the local culture while opening doors to new opportunities.
The trip hallmarked something new for ETHOS — a UD alumnus joining them on the trip.
The students were joined by Paul Soskey, a UD alumnus whose career in technical service served as a blueprint for the students’ futures. Paul mentored the group on projects ranging from solar-powered medical waste systems to the philosophy of incorporating the UD community into a global career.
“The level of learning and collaboration on this trip exceeded all my expectations,” Soskey said. “For the first time, we placed more responsibility on the students to develop their own activities, and they delivered perfectly. This experience reaffirmed that UD truly revolves around community-based learning; it proved that when we empower engineering students to lead, they deeply internalize the values of service and global partnership.”
This spirit of lifelong service is a cornerstone of the UD experience, a sentiment echoed by Soskey.
“I encourage my fellow alumni to give back at whatever level they can, whether locally within their own communities or globally, as we have done here,” Soskey said. “My goal is to continue giving my time and expertise to ETHOS, and I look forward to connecting with the UD engineering alumni network to ensure this mission continues for years to come.”
For Kawiecki, seeing an alumnus balance a technical career with service helped her envision a similar path in medical research and supporting the engineering program following her graduation.
The immersion left a permanent mark on both students. As Schutte prepares to enter the engineering development program at GE Aerospace, Schutte credits the trip with broadening his professional perspective, sparking a lasting interest in how engineering solutions can be leveraged to serve others globally. For Kawiecki, it provided a deep sense of gratitude and a global perspective that she will carry into her future professional career.
As Schutte summarized, “It was the greatest experience I had at Dayton.”