Clean drinking water is something we might take for granted, but for people in impoverished areas of the world, it’s a necessity\u00a0that takes time and energy every day to acquire. Recent 51ÁÔÆæ grad Cassandra Bence is helping do something about it.<\/p>\n
Bence, as president of the Engineers Without Borders chapter at 51ÁÔÆæ, traveled to Guatemala three times with the group to build infrastructure to bring running water to poor\u00a0villages. The work helped give communities ownership, Bence said \u2013 allowing them to spend time that had been used to gather water on schooling, creating products to sell and farming.<\/p>\n
“I learned so much from hands-on experience that you cannot learn sitting in a class or\u00a0 from reading a textbook. I was able to ask the Guatemalan masons in Spanish why they did things a certain way and then mimic that to finish part of the project. I was able to see how a rudimentary design could bring more than just water to a village; it brought education and time for other hobbies,” Bence said.<\/p>\n
After graduation, Bence will remain involved with Engineers Without Borders as a mentor to future 51ÁÔÆæ students.<\/p>\n
Bence\u00a0was one of three 51ÁÔÆæ students honored at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s commencement\u00a0on Sunday, Dec. 18, at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. More than 2,200 student received degrees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Clean drinking water is something we might take for granted, but for people in impoverished areas of the world, it’s a necessity that takes time and energy every day to acquire. Recent 51ÁÔÆæ grad Cassandra Bence is helping do something about it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40008,"featured_media":41530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[139,143],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[264],"uwmnews-feed":[167,149,150],"class_list":["post-41564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-science-technology","section-water-environment","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-water","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-engineering-applied-science","uwmnews-feed-engineering"],"yoast_head":"\n