{"id":60962,"date":"2013-04-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2013-uri-students-year-in-china-sets-her-apart-in-job-market\/"},"modified":"2013-04-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2013-uri-students-year-in-china-sets-her-apart-in-job-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/04\/commencement-2013-uri-students-year-in-china-sets-her-apart-in-job-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2013: 溏心vlog免费B站 student\u2019s year in China sets her apart in job market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tNew Hampshire native to graduate with engineering, Chinese degrees<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 9, 2013 \u2013 Alissa McKechnie said she chose to study mechanical engineering at the 溏心vlog免费B站 because she likes to tinker with things, and because she wanted to prove wrong a high school teacher who said she couldn\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n


\n\tShe certainly succeeded in that effort. The East Hampstead, N.H., native will graduate from 溏心vlog免费B站 on May 19 with not only a bachelor\u2019s degree in engineering but with a degree in Chinese, too. She also spent a year living, studying and working in China through the 溏心vlog免费B站 International Engineering Program, an experience that she finds has set her apart from the glut of others in the job market.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI took Spanish in high school and got bored with it. It\u2019s too similar to English,\u201d McKechnie explained. \u201cI really like the art and history of China, both of which go into writing, learning and experiencing Chinese. Chinese isn\u2019t something you can just pick up and run with. It\u2019s an experience, and you have to really dedicate your time to it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMcKechnie got her first taste of China on a six-week study tour during the summer of 2009, and she returned for the entire 2011-12 school year, beginning with six months of classes at Zhejiang University in the city of Hangzhou, which Marco Polo described as the most beautiful place on Earth.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe had daily language classes focusing on grammar, speaking, listening and a class that combined them all,\u201d she said. \u201cListening was by far the hardest part. We listened to a tape of someone speaking Chinese at a speed that seemed was as fast as they could, and then we were questioned about what they said.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tIn addition to the language classes, she took classes in Chinese history and culture, as well as lessons in kung fu.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cKung fu was entertaining, if nothing else,\u201d McKechnie said with a grin. \u201cThe class started with 50 students standing outside the dorm, but by the end of the semester there were just 15 of us left. It\u2019s like a performance, like a dance, but physically demanding.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe concluded her year in China with a six-month internship at Hasbro Far East, Hasbro Inc.\u2019s East Asia subsidiary, where she was part of a project management team planning the logistics of producing action figures and role-playing games. She visited numerous factories, model shops and machine shops to learn about every step in the production process.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy favorite part was evenings with my coworkers, who became good friends,\u201d said McKechnie, who served as an International Engineering Program ambassador at 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cThey were very embracing and showed me the lifestyle outside of work. We had family style dinners together, played mahjong, and I even won sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe was even selected for the company\u2019s Dragon Boat Festival racing team, which dressed in Iron Man costumes and competed before tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n


\n\tAs McKechnie prepares to graduate, she has found that her experience in China and her language skills have distinguished her from other job seekers.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cJust having Chinese on my resume has had employers take an interest in me,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving international experience, regardless of where it is, is so important because the economy is so international. Nothing is made solely in the U.S. any more.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMcKechnie has had job interviews all over New England and is confident she will have a job before she graduates. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve taken the right courses and I\u2019m well prepared for whatever job is out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy perfect job would be one where I\u2019m not behind a computer hidden away all day and where I get to travel. I\u2019d love to make it back to China some day. Mostly I just want to keep learning. I\u2019m sure the real-world learning will be equal if not better than the great learning experience I\u2019ve had here at 溏心vlog免费B站.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPhoto submitted by Alissa McKechnie<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Hampshire native to graduate with engineering, Chinese degrees KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 9, 2013 \u2013 Alissa McKechnie said she chose to study mechanical engineering at the 溏心vlog免费B站 because she likes to tinker with things, and because she wanted to prove wrong a high school teacher who said she couldn\u2019t do it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}