BlackboardLee Gordon
Florida State University students have always had a proud tradition of activism and community involvement. But over the past two decades - especially since the university created the Center for Leadership and Civic Education to guide them - the tradition has gone into overdrive. Each semester, insightful and imaginative students with big hearts seem to find bigger and ever more creative ways to reach out into the world to make it a better place.
One such student is Lee Gordon, an undergraduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. With a focus on family and youth development, Lee Gordon is serving as Florida State's ambassador to Boys and Girls Town, a Christian organization focused on caring for at-risk youth in North Florida. As president of Seminole Christian Life, a student ministry at Florida State, Gordon has initiated service projects with the Hananasif Orphanage Center (HOCET) in Tanzania. In summer 2010, he led a 10-student team to the African nation's largest city, Dar es Salaam, to help build a sustainable poultry-production program, and to creatively inspire young minds to think toward their future and their community.
Gordon wants to use his future degree to integrate his enthusiasm for family development in practical ways through engineering and community involvement. "Partnering with HOCET has been one of my most rewarding experiences. We lived there for nine weeks. There was a lot of research that went into the project, and I got to work directly with a Tanzanian civil engineer to design and manage the project.
"I believe there is a large connection between civil engineering and family development. I am realizing it takes some creativity to make this connection, and I enjoy the challenge.
"I am working toward global competency. The project in Tanzania allowed me to apply my passions in an international setting. As a future engineer, I plan on leading teams to implement projects in developing countries where resources will be limited and sustainability is essential."
