‘It's amazing how much you learn in a single year on a student team’

July 14, 2022
Sofie Scheij. Foto: team SOLID

Sofie Scheij is a huge fan of applying learned theory in a student team. And of making the impossible possible as part of a team of highly motivated fellow students.

What is the most valuable lesson you learned from your time on team SOLID?

“You undergo enormous personal development. You're thrown into the deep end and are quite inexperienced, so the learning curve is very steep. It's amazing how much you learn in a single year - both hard and soft skills. I've noticed how important it is to have diverse personalities on your team who can complement each other well. That teaches you to understand the structure of an organization, both internally and externally, within a large web of partners and other parties. You also learn crisis management and to deal with conflicts.

I also earned a lot in my role as marketing and PR manager. From how to uniquely position your team's story and deal with the international press to how to set up a long-term marketing strategy that incorporates the correct mission and vision.”

What does team SOLID do?

“SOLID's mission is to make clean, sustainable energy available at any time and to anyone. The student team, in collaboration with various - industrial - partners, wants to be a driving force in the energy transition. The goal is to solve one of the energy transtion's major challenges - storing renewable generated energy - by creating different new energy carriers. The team is working on iron powder as the green, CO2-free, circular fuel of the future. Together with brewer Bavaria, the team presented the first industrial system in 2020.”

The iron fuel installation at brewery Bavaria in Lieshout. Archive photo: Bart van Overbeeke

That must have been a highlight of your year at SOLID!

“Demonstrating the first iron fuel system at the Bavaria brewery had been in the works for ages, but due to the pandemic, we had to change the entire plan just a few weeks before the deadline. It really felt like jumping into the deep end because you have no ideas. But, in the end, it was very instructive and fun to be allowed to work on this. Ultimately with a result that delighted us, and that even managed to get international press coverage!”

Did your time on the team influence your further studies?

“Absolutely! It confirmed my field of interest and the directions I should or shouldn't take later. Plus, I learned so much in one year, which gives me plenty of tools for my master's and later job.”

Student teams use Challenge-based Learning, where multidisciplinary teams work on real-world challenges. What was that like for you?

“I'm a big fan of Challenge-based Learning! I find you master the theory so much better when you've also applied it. Not only do you understand it better, but you remember it a whole lot better too.”

What advice would you give students who are hesitant about joining a student team?

“I'd totally recommend it! And especially a full-time position, should you have room for that. It helps so much to experience early on what it's like to deal with so much responsibility. And it's just really cool to be in a team with only highly motivated students who want to make the impossible possible - and succeed.”

From our strategy: about Challenge-based Learning

Challenge-based Learning (CBL) forms the core of our educational vision. In this innovative type of learning, students work together on real-life challenges in interdisciplinary teams. The assignments come from industry, government, or students. Students learn to cooperate, with each other and clients, to communicate, be entrepreneurial, think on a system level, and to experiment. And they learn to apply and deepen their disciplinary knowledge in practice. Step by step, we are working towards a new curriculum to better prepare our students for their interdisciplinary and responsible role in society. We, thus, also consider personal leadership an essential value.

Challenge-based Learning falls under Talent in our Strategy 2030.

Brigit Span
(Corporate Storyteller)

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