Formal Email

 Subject: Self-Introduction email

Dear Prof Blackstone,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Austin and I am a first year mechanical engineering student at SIT. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and express my excitement for your upcoming module on critical thinking and communicating. 

I went on a slightly longer education path compared to the others. After secondary school, I studied in ITE College West before enrolling into Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2018 before graduating in 2021. I studied mechanical engineering both in ITE and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and now again in SIT. I chose to study engineering back then because as a kid, I always liked to find out how things work. I would tear my toys apart and try to put them back together again just because I liked it and I wanted to know how it works although I have to admit that my success rate was not a 100% so I ended up with some broken toys. I also really loved Legos as a kid, and indeed I still do. However, these days, I prefer the adult Lego shop also known as Ikea. The only reason I purchase Ikea furniture is so I can have fun assembling them. All of these reasons are why I have a deeply rooted passion for engineering and it is why I chose this course of study many years ago. I think that my passion for engineering and seeing things from an engineering point of view is what makes me unique too. For example, I love to play golf, I play golf multiple days a week. And even when playing golf I see the engineering side of it. The clubs that I use are created from engineering, the shape of the face, the weight and everything about the club is carefully engineered to give me the best ball striking performance. Even in the ball itself, the different layers within the ball and the surface of the ball, all these were carefully considered when engineering the ball to have the best ball flight and distance. Therefore, I believe that being able to see everything from an engineering point of view is what makes me unique. 

I would say that one of my strengths in communication is empathy. I am able to recognise the importance of being able to understand other people's feelings, which is very important in my opinion as we have to work in groups most of the time whether in school or at work. An example of this was during a group project we had to do in polytechnic. One of my group members, let's call him John, was visibly upset halfway through group discussion and when he went to the toilet I followed him so I could talk to him and try to understand his situation, if any. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, I understood the importance of addressing what John was going through. It turned out that a close family member of his got into a car accident and he found out halfway through the discussion. I empathised with his situation and acknowledged his feelings. This made him feel heard and supported. When I got back from the toilet with him, I discussed with the team about redistributing the workload in order to give john some time to visit his family member in hospital and to be back at 100% to be able to contribute to the team. This is a good example of my strength in empathy and I firmly believe that empathy is an important trait that everyone has to have in order to not only be a good team player, but a better person. 

One weakness I have in communicating is that I avoid difficult conversations. I'm not really a confrontational person by nature and I feel bad when I have to bring up the negatives in other people. An example of this would be in a previous relationship, where my partner would constantly do things that I did not necessarily like but I did not want to engage in that difficult conversation with her. Over time, me not wanting to engage in that difficult conversation led us to grow distant from each other. There were many more misunderstandings between each other and there were many unresolved issues. Eventually, we called off the relationship but it is quite sad to see that all this stemmed from me not wanting to have that difficult conversation. In a school and work context, this is also very relevant when I am working in a team. I recognise that I have to be able to tell my other teammates when they are underperforming in order to remain productive as a team. I understand that avoiding difficult conversations is a weakness of mine and I am actively trying to improve upon it. 

I hope that in this module I will enhance my active listening skills. While I believe that I may be able to express my ideas, I realised that I might not be fully engaged when other people are presenting their ideas. In this module, I aim to develop my skills to actively listen, to be able to give the presenter my full attention and to absorb and understand what they are saying so I can ask clarifying questions and be able to give constructive feedback. Another goal for this module is that I hope that I can practise my public speaking and I'm sure many of us have anxiety when it comes to public speaking. I am not trying to get rid of the anxiety of public speaking but I am trying to learn how to put that anxiety aside when I am giving presentations. I tend to speak too fast when I am nervous about presenting so that is what I would mainly want to improve upon in this module.

I thank you again for your time in reading my email and I really look forward to attending your module. 

Best regards, 

Austin 

commented on, Wei Jie's, Quan Xin's and Justin's posts.

Revised on 23/11/2023