Samantha O’Wril: Helped found the Francis College of Engineering’s Student Ambassadors program
Samantha O’Wril, an electrical and computer engineering major from Lowell, takes great satisfaction in telling people about the wealth of opportunities available at the Francis College of Engineering. And she’s had plenty of practice.
O’Wril is president of the Francis College of Engineering Student Ambassadors program, which she helped get off the ground in the fall of 2017. She and her fellow board members developed the club’s mission statement, constitution, organizational structure and an event and outreach plan. She spearheaded recruitment in both spring and fall of 2018 and developed a training program. Under her leadership, the ambassador team has grown from 12 to 35 members.
O’Wril and her team have offered tours to prospective students and their families. They oversaw three elementary school field trips and assisted with or led more than 20 college events, including local high school workshops and career fairs and regional FIRST Robotics competitions, as well as the college’s annual Engineering Week activities and recruiting events.
She also worked with the college’s Future Engineers Summer Camp program in 2017 and 2018, supervising, mentoring and advising an average of 40 high school students from across the region each season.
“In addition to providing me the opportunity to be a campus leader, UMass Lowell has also given me the confidence to go out to industry and work,” says O’Wril, who has been working as an intern since last fall at BAE Systems in Nashua, N.H., while carrying a full load of classes. And she’ll be continuing her work there.
“I’ve been offered a full-time job by the company after I graduate, so I’ll be testing and debugging microchips that will be going into military planes,” she says.