Happy December SASE family, and welcome to the last blog of the semester! I hope that you all are doing well, even as finals season rears its ugly head. In the meantime, take a brain break from all the studying, and join us as we recount an action-packed November (and a bit of December)!
GBM #3: PostSASEon
We started off November running with our third GBM (“PostSASEon: SenSASEtional Internship Gameplan”) of the semester, where we were lucky enough to have a handful of our very own SASE members highlight their internship experiences and explain the ins and outs of the internship and research process, from searching for opportunities all the way to the best ways to communicate with the people on your team. Thank you so much to our panelists Mia Banag, Carlos De Guzman, Amrith Kancharla, Anh Le, Julia Le, and Jade Monteiro for coming out and providing our members with valuable information that will set them up for success!
Julia, Jade, and Carlos speak about their professional experience
GRiP Adaptathon + Movie Social
GRiP (Generational Relief in Prosthetics), a club here at UF that specializes in creating and adapting assistive devices for those in need, reached out to us with a special opportunity to have our members participate in their Adaptathon, an annual event where students are able to modify and adapt toys for children with upper limb differences. Our members were able to work with GRIP and gain technical skills such as soldering and wiring all while on a mission to provide joy to these children, just in time for the holiday season. Thank you so much to our service chair, Kelly, as well as GRIP’s outreach chair, Ella, for helping set up this unique and fulfilling opportunity for our members!
After these 2 big events, it was time for us members of SASE to have some fun. We were able to get together and head over to Celebration Pointe and watch Marvel’s fabulous new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on its opening weekend. This was a great event and gave our members a nice way to relax and enjoy an evening of entertainment with friends. Thank you so much to our social chair, Bailey, for setting up this event!
SASE members Sharon and Amber solder a toy at Adaptathon
Temaki Zushi Fundraiser + W&C Info Session
Fun often doesn’t come without food, and we made sure to keep the fun going with our Temaki Zushi fundraiser, complete with sushi rolled by hand by our very own members to help raise funds for us to plan even better events for our members. To our members who were able to purchase Temaki Zushi, we very much appreciate the support and will make sure that you will enjoy the dividends of your investment in us. Thank you so much to our fundraising chair, Ian K., for organizing this fundraiser!
Shortly after Temaki Zushi, we were able to join our friends over at Florida Engineering Society (FES) for an information session with Woodard and Curran, a local engineering consulting firm. This company was a breath of fresh air from the companies that we typically have information sessions with and catered to many of our SASE members that are not solely focused on technology companies. We learned some very valuable insights from them, so thank you to our MIC, Amrith, and our EVP, Taise, along with FES for organizing this fruitful information session with W&C!
SASE Interns
The second half of our November actually consisted solely of events that were organized by our lovely SASE Interns. After our Interns were chosen in late September, they were assigned to different committees in order to plan various events and gain experience in what it takes to run SASE. After almost two months, our Interns were able to plan 4 different events. The first event was our SASE Interns-only social, where our Interns rolled their way to Skate Station Funworks to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon of roller skating, mini golf, and rock climbing. The second event was our first-ever SASE field day, filled with exciting events such as tug-of-war, sponge bucket challenge, and even an SAT math relay race!
The third event was our second technical workshop, where our members learned to market themselves by creating their very own NFC business cards linked to a custom-built profile.
Members have a blast at UF’s first ever SASE Field Day
GBM 4: Escape From DiSASEter
The fourth and final event was our fourth GBM (“Escape from the DiSASEter!”) of the semester, where the interns planned a snowy survival adventure for our members to escape from.
These events were not only well-planned but also well-executed, so hats off to our interns for working so hard these past couple months to make their events some of the best events we’ve ever had. Thank you so much to our interns as well as our committee leads in Justin, Bailey, Mia, Ian, Sharika, Tam, Michelle, Catrina, Alan, and especially our amazing MICs, Emely and Amrith, for all of your hard work designing these events this semester. Planning these events is no small feat, and we all appreciate your dedication and commitment to ensuring a great experience for our members.
Members participate in activities at GBM#4
Winter Banquet
With all of the exceptional events and experiences at SASE this Fall, we had to take a step back and celebrate all of our accomplishments with our winter banquet. The banquet allowed us all to come together and look back on the semester aboard the “SASE Express”, and we enjoyed food, games, entertainment, and superlatives as we relished the joyous holiday spirit. It was truly amazing to see all our members brought together for the night of celebration! This banquet also inspires us to go above and beyond so that next semester’s banquet can be even more fun and fulfilling. Thank you so much to our banquet committees for collaborating and working hard to organize this event in celebration of all the fun we had this semester!
Emely’s Hi-Chhu’s win the Fall 2022 Mentorship Cup
Evening With Professors
To end off our semester, we hosted our bi-annual “Evening with Professors” event, inviting professors from various departments such as Biomedical and Civil Engineering and allowing our members the opportunity to have close conversations with these professors over dinner. This event is particularly valuable because it helps our members get to know the professors as people. Our members are able to form bonds with professors that supersede academics, and these bonds are sometimes the most valuable of all. Thank you so much to our professors for joining and to our advancement chair, Brian, for ensuring that this invaluable night was a success!
SASE networks during Evening With Professors
Conclusion
And with all that, our semester finally comes to a close. Looking back, it was quite the busy semester, but none of it would have meant anything if not for you, our members. We thank each and every one of you every single day for being part of our SASE family, and we wouldn’t trade your presence for anything.
As finals approach, I would like to remind you all to keep your heads up high and persevere into the holidays. You’ve worked so hard this semester, and this is the final stretch until you’re rewarded with a nice long break. With that being said, I wish everybody good luck on their last exams and projects and am confident that you all will succeed. I am looking forward to seeing all of you again next semester at our events, so until then, cheers to a wonderful holiday break and a happy new year!
Your Secretary,
Meer Mahfuz
