James Chandler, a senior in environmental engineering, has fought his way to student success.
Transferring from Owens Community College in January 2020, Chandler was full of hope and plans for his new adventure as a chemical engineering student at UToledo. And moving to Toledo from Findlay, he was excited to live on his own for the first time with plans to land a job to pay rent for his new apartment as he maintained a full-time class schedule.
Chandler
Then COVID-19 struck and the world shut down.
“Life as a college student was very hard for me,” Chandler said. “I did not find any work until May of 2020, I had spent all the money I was saving, I had a hefty credit card debt and I was not doing too well in my classes.”
And it got worse from there. With the quarantine and online classes, he never left his apartment. Chandler’s GPA dropped, he changed his major and moved back home with his parents. Chandler, like so many others during the COVID-19 pandemic, experienced severe depression and sought the help of therapy.
“I felt like a failure,” he said. “Failing to live on my own, failing my classes, failing to fulfill my goal of being a chemical engineer, and failing to get a co-op with a company on my first rotation.”
Fast forward to now, and Chandler is doing much better. He’s improving in his classes and improving his GPA.
“I was able to get my second co-op with Ulliman Schutte where I worked as a pre-construction estimator and a BIM modeler,” he said. “I traveled to a jobsite, learned new software programs like Revit, Bluebeam and CostOS, and was able to understand and create engineering. I made new friends with the people I worked with at Ulliman Schutte, and I even participated in one of their office cooking competitions.”
Chandler is currently on his third co-op with the company where he started his engineering experience, AES.
“I am learning how to adapt to my environment and think of ideas of what I can do to make my system work, perform lab sample testing, and operate machinery like KDS, EKOTON, and QuickWash,” he said.
Chandler is expected to graduate by end of 2023 and is looking forward to working full time as an engineer.
Part of Chandler’s turnaround involved enrolling in a summer 2021 Alternative Co-op Course — Academic Industry Immersion Seminar (AIIS).
Developed by the Shah Center for Engineering Career Development team, AIIS closely replicated an industry co-op with various skill development strategies and served as his first co-op.
“In this class, I was able to learn skills like entrepreneurship, environmental footprint, ethics and leadership,” Chandler said. “I worked with the environment consulting firm Applied Environmental Solutions (AES) and led a team of other students on a case study on treating phosphorus in a lagoon for a chicken farm. This class gave me my first engineering experience and I developed a contact at AES who allowed me to shadow their company for a day to get a better understanding of what being an engineer is like. This was an amazing experience where I got to ask a lot of questions and see firsthand how AES helps the environment.”
Geoff Humphrys, associate director in the Shah Center, has been impressed with Chandler’s resiliency.
“James Chandler is a student who has determined that nothing will keep him down or refrain him from reaching his goals,” Humphrys said. “He has overcome many obstacles the past two years and has proven to be a stellar leader, student and co-op employee. James has accessed and capitalized on a variety of the resources at UToledo and within the College of Engineering. He truly understands that this was necessary to sustain a support system that would help nurture him to success. Obviously, he has been successful and I’m excited to follow him as he advances to the next level of his career. Watch out world!”
And for his fellow Rockets who might be struggling, Chandler offered this message of hope: it is important and never too late to get the help you need.
“Although my journey has not had the greatest beginning, I have had a lot of help from my therapist, my co-op director, my academic advisors, my success coach and the friends I made at UToledo,” he said. “Without their help I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
