 My name is Jo Jennings and I'm a freshman in first-year engineering and I'm on the Global Air Quality Trekker's EPICS team. Over the years, my team has been working on improving the air quality inside rural homes in Nandi, Kenya by collaborating with women who reside there to improve ventilation and to switch from the wood-burning stoves to a more sustainable source of energy that doesn't cause as much air pollution. What I really like about this team is that we are able to work together with organizations in Nandi, Kenya to help solve the air pollution problems in the rural homes. EPICS allows you to get this hands-on experience early and also allows you to maintain leadership roles earlier and work on teamwork and communication skills that you wouldn't normally get. EPICS gives students a different kind of experience than what the classroom settings do. You work with actual partners and teams to help solve real-world problems such as air pollution or other things that can be huge dangers to society. You are able to get this experience before actually going in the professional career and it helps you understand what you want to do as an engineer.