October 2011 Newsletter - petroleum engineering colorado school ...

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONSPE SENIOR - STUDENT BODY PRESIDENTFirst, I would like tosay that I am extremelyhonored to be in thisnewsletter as the StudentBody President of theColorado School of Mines.I feel that it shows howmuch our faculty memberscare about the students inthe Petroleum department,and how much they wantto see us succeed. Withoutthem, I would not be whereI am today.I preach every day to my peers and to underclassman abouthow important it is to be involved in school activities. It notonly teaches us leadership skills we will take with us intoindustry, but it makes each of our time here at Mines moreenjoyable and successful. Get involved, GO MINES!Brenden Swensen As for myself, I was bornand raised in AnchorageAlaska. I attended the same high school as my father, andgained the tools I would need to succeed here at Mines.My father has been a very successful manager of multiplecompanies over time, and I have been able to learn manyof my leadership skills from his parenting and through hislessons as a hockey coach. My mother has given me the bestlove and support I could ever ask for, which has allowedme to focus on school and really thrive as a leader here oncampus.Brendan playing hockeyAs for industry experience, I have to give a sincere thankyou to Forest Oil for whom I have interned with for the lasttwo summers. While there, I did decline analysis for theHaynesville Shale both summers which was a fun project tocome back to a year later and see the fields development. Ialso did a small field study on the Arkoma Basin in Oklahomaand Arkansas that helped the engineers to understand whysome wells in the field were not producing as expected. Thelargest project I worked on was a field study on the GraniteWash in Mendota Ranch across Hemphill and RobertsCounties in the panhandle of Texas. Through each of these,I have gained knowledge that will undoubtedly be valuableto me in the future.Thank you again to my family, friends, teachers and mentors.I hope to make you proud.Student school spiritMy first leadership role at Mines was becoming a ResidentAssistant my sophomore year, which I continued thru myjunior year as well. I learned the planning process for events,sharpened my people skills every day, and developed strongtime management skills while making hundreds of friendsalong the way. From being involved in Residence Life, Ilearned more about our school every day, and couldn’t getenough. This led me to become the Vice President of ourIce Hockey Club and also join our Student Government myjunior year.Since then, I am now a Teacher Assistant for Dr. Miller’sComputational Methods as well as being elected as ourStudent Body President. I am extremely excited about bothmy positions, as I get to learn new leadership roles at CSM.22Looking at the new pedestrian walkway with the new Brown Buildingaddition to the left, Recreation Center to the right, and the newresidence Hall, Maple Hall in the far left.