LU Moment: Discover Engineering with Bayleigh Smith

Podcast: S8 Ep. 8
Date: April 2, 2025
Title: Discover Engineering with Bayleigh Smith
Host: John Rollins

JOHN ROLLINS:  Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all of the great things happening with Lamar University, faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, associate director of community relations and public affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. Discover Engineering is back, and Lamar University is excited to host this free community event to get kids excited about engineering and STEM careers. Here today to tell us all about this exciting day is Bayleigh Smith. Bayleigh, thank you for joining me today on the LU moment.

BAYLEIGH SMITH: Thank you, John. I'm excited to be here. 

JOHN: I'm glad to have you, and I'm glad to have a first timer in the radio studio.

BAYLEIGH: Yes, it's exciting to be here. It's a cool space that we have on campus.

JOHN: Very, very cool. Glad to have you up here. So, let's hear more about Discover Engineering. You know, folks who may be planning to attend, what can they expect?

BAYLEIGH: Discover Engineering is an event that we host every year in the College of Engineering. It’s been going on for over 10 years now. It is an annual event held in the spring, and this year, it will take place on April 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s a great opportunity for kids from kindergarten to eighth grade to come and engage in hands-on activities in the world of STEM. We do activities like potato circuits, make-your-own slime, catapults, rockets, and more. It’s a really fun day for kids to gain hands-on experience, but at their level. Additionally, we offer free t-shirts, door prizes throughout the day, and we’ll have ice cream this year. We also have a bounce house, and other fun activities. To make it an even bigger and more exciting event this year, we’re adding something new that I’m really excited about. We’re starting small, but we hope to grow it each year. We’ll have an alumni area. Any of our alumni who want to come back and bring their families or kids to the event will have a space where they can get refreshments, take photos, and connect with current students. We’ll also have special door prizes for our alumni. Our Cardinal Additive Manufacturing (CAM) Club, which is our 3-D printing club, is working on 3-D printing fire pits that we’ll be raffling off.

JOHN: How cool.

BAYLEIGH: I’m super, super excited for that piece this year and for getting more involvement. We have student organizations that host tables with these hands-on activities, but we’re also really fortunate to be sponsored by outside industry. This year, our Blueprint Premier Sponsor level is with Indorama Ventures. We also have our Innovator Platinum Sponsors, which include INEOS and TotalEnergies. We’re truly blessed and excited to have local industries involved as well.

JOHN: That sounds fantastic, and you know, I love the addition of the alumni. I think it's important for Lamar to remember to include our alumni in some of these endeavors and initiatives, because they do want to be involved and included, so I love that addition.

BAYLEIGH: Absolutely, and we've been supported from the alumni office, and they're going to be there, and they have a special gift for the alumni as well, and helping with the photo booth, so it's a partnership or partnership effort, but it's just really exciting to be able to. This is such a great event for them to bring their families to, but also just make it a little special for them, because we want to say thank you for being such a supportive alumni.

JOHN: Absolutely love that. So, you said about 10 years now this has been going on. Do you know how this started? Like what sprung this event into existence?

BAYLEIGH: So, it actually started as a student organization initiative through our Society of Women Engineers. They started it, like I said, over 10 years ago, and it was very small. At first, it was just one student organization leading it, but over time, it has developed. Now, the student Engineering Council hosts it alongside the College of Engineering's recruitment and marketing team, and we get to have support from our students. The student Engineering Council is made up of officers who represent the body of student organizations within the College of Engineering. We have 25 student organizations, and each organization has one member that is part of the student Engineering Council. The student Engineering Council also has officers. They meet biweekly to discuss morale events and what each student organization is doing. These officers are the ones who spearhead the event. They invite industry representatives and handle the organization and coordination of the layout and other details. So, what started as a small student organization-led event has really blossomed and developed into a full event hosted by the student Engineering Council.

JOHN: What great experience for them as well. You know, event planning, I feel like these are all things that they can kind of put in their in their toolbox for later on. 

BAYLEIGH: We focus a lot in the College of Engineering on soft skills, so things like communication, leadership, how to coordinate, how to organize, and so this is just one of those opportunities that allows our students to be able to develop those skills. 

JOHN: Yeah, put those skills to work, right? So, Bayleigh, I know your title here at LU is associate director of marketing and recruitment for the College of Engineering. So, let's hear more about your role, and let's kind of take it back a little and allow you to introduce yourself, because I didn't do that at the beginning. 

BAYLEIGH: So yeah, absolutely. I have worked for Lamar University full-time since 2019, so it’s going on six years now, and it has been quite a ride. I have loved this experience. I started at Lamar as an undergraduate student in 2016 and earned my bachelor's in sociology in 2020. I didn’t know then that higher education was going to be my path, as most people in higher education don’t know that. I actually started working full-time before I graduated with my bachelor’s degree. I began as an administrative assistant for the Welcome Center, but before that, I was working as a tour guide for the university. During my freshman year of college, I thought, “I need a job. I need a job on campus, and I want to get involved.” I was approached by my admissions counselor, who said, “Hey, we have this opening,” and that’s how I became a tour guide. That role ultimately introduced me to higher education. Back then, we were called the Admissions and Recruitment Student Delegates, but now they’re known as the very prestigious LU Crew. And I get to be a little braggy and say that I was a founding member.

JOHN: Like, “I was part of that before it was the Crew.”

BAYLEIGH: Exactly, exactly. I started as an administrative assistant, then went on to become the Welcome Center Coordinator, where I worked directly with LU Crew as their immediate supervisor. After that, I transitioned into the recruitment space within the university. I was the Assistant Director of Recruitment, then moved to the Associate Director of Recruitment. Before I became the Associate Director of Recruitment, I realized that my passion was in higher education—it was very clear to me at that point. So, I decided to continue my education and earned my Master’s in Higher Education and Higher Education Administration. I graduated last May with that degree and, shortly after, moved to the College of Engineering as the Associate Director of Marketing and Recruitment. Now, I’m in the academic world, still doing very similar things but more on the academic side. I get to work with faculty and have more hands-on experience with current students. It’s been a whirlwind experience, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m super passionate about Lamar—I’ve been here long enough to truly love it. So, a little about my role: I work with our team to market and recruit for the College of Engineering. We handle everything from social media, our website, and digital signage, to communication and outreach with prospective students. We manage both on-campus and off-campus recruitment efforts, visiting high schools and community colleges. We also collaborate with our faculty and students for outreach opportunities in the community, from elementary school to high school age. We really try to support our student organizations, many of which have an outreach component. For example, we have multiple student organizations that participate in events like the BISD STEM Night, where they showcase STEM to elementary students. We also make a point to connect with high school students and bring them to campus. We host various events on campus each year, which makes it a great place to be. It’s a world of responsibilities, but I love what I do and I love our team. It’s awesome.

JOHN: I know your team over there in the College of Engineering stays extremely busy. Our College of Engineering here at Lamar has a huge reputation, not only in Southeast Texas but across the nation. I was on your website earlier, and I believe I read that LU College of Engineering is the top school in the state of Texas and third in the nation. I’m not sure if that’s still the case, though.

BAYLEIGH: Yes, we are number one on return on investment in the state of Texas, and then number three in the nation. 

JOHN: That’s what it is – return on investment. So, with that being said, what’s your favorite thing about being a part of the College of Engineering at Lamar? I know you mentioned that the team is wonderful and that you still have the recruitment side to your job, but what’s your favorite part about being a part of the College of Engineering?

BAYLEIGH: I think my favorite part, and what really makes this position stand out compared to other roles I’ve had on campus, is how involved we get to be with our current students and how much we get to see them experience. We get to see them come in as freshmen, and we start off with our Freshman Boot Camp the week before classes start. It gives them the opportunity to prepare for their math classes, meet other students, and get acquainted with the university before their first day of class—helping ease some of those first-day nerves. We see them when they’re nervous, at that early stage, and then we follow them all the way through to senior design. They present their projects at the symposium, talking to industry professionals, families, and other current students about what they’ve been working on for the last year. It’s amazing to see that full cycle—from when they start and are nervous, to the skills they’ve developed over the last four to six years. They’ve honed those skills through internships and co-op opportunities, which have allowed them to grow and gain hands-on experience in the industry. They’ve also been a part of student organizations that have helped them become leaders on campus. Then, we get to see them at their senior design symposium, doing what they do best, and ultimately, they cross the stage at graduation. We’ve had the opportunity to watch their growth, and I think that’s my favorite part—getting to watch this group evolve. I’m fortunate that I came into the College of Engineering and got to start with last year’s freshmen. I’ve seen so many of them grow this past year, and I’m excited to continue watching their journey over the next few years.

JOHN: That’s pretty fantastic. Great answer! What are some of the things you all have in the pipeline with the College of Engineering? Beyond Discover Engineering, I know that’s coming up very soon, but you also mentioned something about the Engineering Experience. Do you want to touch on that really quickly? 

BAYLEIGH: Yeah, absolutely. So, we started something new this year in partnership with the Welcome Center. We’re hosting the Engineering Experience most Mondays and Wednesdays every week. It’s a daily campus tour add-on for any student who is generally interested in the University and the College of Engineering. So, if a student wants to see Lamar University and learn more about it, they can go to the lamar.edu/visit website, sign up for a daily campus tour, and if they choose the Monday or Wednesday options, they’ll often have the chance to select "Engineering Experience" if they choose engineering as their major. The Engineering Experience happens about an hour after their campus tour. It’s completely led by our Engineering Ambassadors, so it’s a student-led experience—there are no staff or faculty involved. The ambassadors take the students through our facilities, show them some of our labs on campus, and share their own experiences. They also provide information about the College of Engineering, and they walk them through the Science and Technology building on the way back to the Welcome Center, where the tour ends. It’s a great opportunity for prospective students to get that extra touch while they’re already on campus. They can see some of the amazing labs we have and get that information directly from current students—because who better to share their experience than the students who are doing it every day? It’s been an awesome addition, and we’ve had huge success with it so far. We just kicked it off in February, so it’s very new, but we have available dates through May and will pick back up again in September. We run it during the semesters when our students are here, and like I said, it’s completely led by our College of Engineering Ambassadors.

JOHN: What a great program! And like you said, who better to hear from than the students who are fully immersed in this right now? They’re taking the classes, doing the research, and working in the labs. That’s pretty wonderful. So, let’s share the details one more time. We’ve got a little bit of time left. What are the specifics about Discover Engineering—the date, time, location, and how can families get their children signed up? Also, how can folks stay in touch with the College of Engineering?

BAYLEIGH: Absolutely. So, Discover Engineering is on April 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s a come-and-go event, so you don’t have to stay the entire time. We do suggest coming by noon to have enough time to experience everything. We’ll have t-shirts and door prizes available while supplies last. To sign up, you can visit lamar.edu/futureengineer. That’s our landing page for anyone interested in the College of Engineering—whether you’re a parent, family member, STEM teacher, counselor, or high school student. The page will allow you to register for Discover Engineering, find information about our summer camps (we’re offering three this summer, and applications are open), and also sign up for our newsletter to stay connected with us.

JOHN: Fantastic! Great information, and thanks again for joining me today, Bayleigh, and sharing about these wonderful events coming up and all the great work taking place at the College of Engineering. 

BAYLEIGH: Yeah, thank you for having me! 

JOHN: For the listeners out there, once again, as Bayleigh mentioned, save the date for Saturday, April 12, for Discover Engineering, taking place right here at Lamar University at the Science and Technology Building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. As we wrap up another episode, please make sure to search for "LU Moment" wherever you get your podcasts to stay up-to-date on the events, activities, programs, and people right here at Lamar University. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.