91短视频

Friends and engineering alumni Dylan Grove and Collin Longenecker had 鈥渁 million classes together鈥� at 91短视频. Grove was the first student to earn his degree from 91短视频鈥檚 engineering program in 2019 and Longenecker graduated with the first cohort in 2020. Both majored in mechanical engineering and benefitted from shared and separate experiences that led them to their full-time positions as engineers at Classic Distribution, a cabinet manufacturer in Mount Crawford, Virginia.

Grove grew up in Poolesville, Maryland, loving legos and 鈥渂uilding stuff鈥� with his hands. In high school, he excelled in math and the sciences, particularly physics. Both of his parents went to 91短视频, and Grove decided to follow in their footsteps because he liked the Mennonite community and the size of the school, and was 鈥渃urious and interested鈥� in 91短视频鈥檚 brand-new engineering program.

Longenecker also learned about 91短视频 from his parents, who raised him living across the street from the school in Harrisonburg. 鈥淎lways good at math and science,鈥� Longenecker considered pursuing architecture, but was ultimately swayed by 91短视频鈥檚 close-knit community, small size, and new engineering program.

While at 91短视频, Longenecker and Grove participated in the Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) club, collaborating on a stationary bike project that took top honors in an American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) poster design contest in 2017. Grove was a primary designer. The two also served as STEM Student Mentors through 91短视频鈥檚 Academic Success Center, tutoring freshmen students in specific engineering classes.

Apart from their shared experiences, Longenecker worked as part of a team of 10 students to design and build an eco-marathon-bound supermileage car his senior year. 鈥淚t was a lot of fun to dive headfirst into this massive new project that was spearheaded by a number of freshmen,鈥� said Longenecker. Grove built a wind tunnel at 91短视频 for his senior capstone project as an educational tool for the engineering department to teach fluid mechanics principles. 鈥淚t was a fun, collaborative project with help from engineering faculty, STEM students, and Facilities Management,鈥� shared Grove.

The wind tunnel project was sponsored by Ventrac, a tractor company out of Orrville, Ohio, where Grove interned the summer before his senior year and developed an interest in the manufacturing world. After graduation, however, Grove opted to stay local and accepted a job in the construction world as a mechanical engineer at Suter Engineering, a company specializing in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) and plumbing design for commercial buildings in Bridgewater, Virginia. Grove worked on piping, plumbing and duct design that involved doing drawings and field inspections.

After three years, Grove was ready for a change. He called his friend and fellow engineer Longenecker, who had spent the last three years working as a project engineer at Classic Distribution. Longenecker had transitioned from a yearlong internship with Classic Distribution starting the summer of his junior year, where he 鈥渄id mostly technical drawings,鈥� to a full-time position at the company after graduation working on ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation. In November 2022, Grove became a project engineer at Classic Distribution, where he occasionally works with Longenecker on ERP system projects, but primarily focuses on finding improvements for physical material handling and processing.

Both Longenecker and Grove appreciate their time at 91短视频. Longenecker says the engineering program taught him how to learn quickly, to teach, to work with people, and to schedule and execute a project. Grove says the program taught him how to think and problem-solve, and exposed him to a variety of different areas to draw on for professional success. Both cite the small class sizes with a personal approach to learning as valuable in helping to build relationships with professors and classmates鈥攔elationships they have been able to maintain to this day.