Purdue Engineering sibling trio set up for success by Engineering Academic Boot Camp
Sam Morales thought he was already behind.
He hadn't taken Calculus I in high school. But he had been accepted into the College of Engineering at Purdue University. Which he also knew very little about, even after visiting in February 2021.
The visit had shown Morales one crucial aspect of Purdue: He could get the head start he was looking for on calculus. Plus, he would get to avoid half of a hot Texas summer for the less extreme temperatures of West Lafayette, Indiana, through Engineering Academic Boot Camp (EABC).
“EABC was a good spot to catch up, meet new people and get the lay of the land at Purdue,” said Morales, an aeronautical and astronautical engineering graduate and current engineering management graduate student. "It also taught me the discipline I needed in college so I could keep up with classes and explore at the same time, while being independent for the first time ever."”
That lesson was one of the reasons EABC launched in 2005. A way to ease the transition between high school curriculum and Purdue’s rigorous engineering curriculum for incoming first-year students, students dedicated time to learning calculus and chemistry in a simulation course and getting on a college schedule. EABC even included built-in time to focus on coursework each evening together in the basement of Harrison Hall.
Morales spent July and August in the simulation calculus and chemistry course — in addition to earning course credit in Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) and an elective, putting some free time in his first-year engineering (FYE) schedule — and practically living in the Harrison basement with his newfound group of 35 friends.
“Every day we would go on night walks, just to cruise around campus to sketch out the best routes to take to each class before the first day of school,” Morales said. “But we also took the whole basement of Harrison for ourselves to do work and play games.”
Morales knew the Engineering Mall backward and forward by the time the fall 2021 semester began. He had reported the overwhelmingly positive experience to his younger siblings, twins Emma and Jacob. EABC was the natural choice for the two when they accepted offers to Purdue in spring 2024. Having Sam to guide them and a group of familiar faces was both inspiring and comforting.
Emma and Jacob attended EABC in July 2024 and spent every moment outside of class in the basement of Harrison Hall with the other 23 participants.
“It really sets you apart when you come in with a friend group,” said Emma, a sophomore in biomedical engineering. “Sam had such a positive experience, of course we wanted to partake as well. We had to leave home early, but it paid off. We earned credits, built a strong community and built strong relationships with faculty, which can be really intimidating to do.”
All three students praised chemistry instructor Marybeth Miller for emphasizing that “there were no stupid questions.” Especially when Sam — followed by Emma and Jacob — asked questions they felt Miller could have rolled her eyes at. It equipped the Morales trio to confidently engage with faculty, getting to know them as people and as inspiring instructors who held the key to research-related experiences.
As a result, Emma and Jacob both felt comfortable seeking research experiences directly from faculty — and Sam made it through chemistry with understanding and a sense of accomplishment.
“Chemistry was my lowest class in all of undergrad,” Sam said. “I was scared to ask questions of my professors because I didn’t want to look dumb. But it was great to talk to Miss Marybeth about the stuff I didn’t know and get her help.”
The experience was similar with the student mentors, current Purdue Engineering students who were also in Harrison alongside the EABC participants.
“We also camped out in the basement, playing games with our new friends and the student mentors,” said Jacob, a sophomore in computer engineering. “I found that I also relied on my friends in EABC more when studying than I did in high school. The classes we had were rigorous, so we all would spend time very locked in and working together to get everything done.”
A helping hand for the future
The benefits to EABC start before the first day of class, but they certainly don’t end there. For Emma and Jacob, the early connection to faculty led them to undergraduate research opportunities at Purdue.
For Sam, an EABC connection took him from West Lafayette to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he works as a graduate intern at construction management company Moss and Associates. His master’s in engineering management at Purdue takes Sam on three professional rotations over one year, similar to Co-op rotations.
“A buddy of mine from EABC told me that Moss was hiring interns and to apply,” Sam said. “Since my friend was doing a great job at Moss, they took his recommendation of me seriously and hired me.”
From Fort Lauderdale, Sam will go to Chicago for a summer internship with another construction management company, Sargent & Lundy. Though Sam’s background is in aerospace engineering, industrial experience is what matters most as a graduate intern. Bouncing from place to place provides Sam with a constant reminder to check in and see what his EABC friends are doing — and where in the world they are for each exciting experience.
Just like Sam’s EABC friends, Emma and Jacob’s group chat carried over into the first semester. And the second. Now, almost juniors, Emma and Jacob regularly see friends from their first days at Purdue.
Emma’s schedule is a balance of BME courses, commitments within the Engineering Honors Program, a job as a residential assistant in Wiley Hall, and cancer cell research with associate professor Keith Stantz’s lab in the College of Health and Human Sciences. She also volunteers as a chemistry tutor for the Engineering Success Center (ESC) and speaks to incoming students about preparing for the leap into college on visit days.
“I try to give back, and I love talking to incoming students,” Emma said.
Jacob is immersed in sophomore year of computer engineering, focusing on data stewardship and laws surrounding regulation of artificial intelligence. He connected with a VIP course in fall 2024 with the image processing and analysis (VIP-IPA) team, where Jacob found a professional role in data stewardship and artificial intelligence regulation for summer 2026 that way. It’s a challenge to stay balanced, Jacob shared, but his EABC community keeps him on track.
“We still have lunch from time to time, see each other randomly throughout the year,” Jacob said. “Some of us are in engineering, others have different majors, but we still make it work.”
While none of the Morales siblings have been EABC mentors (yet), Emma and Jacob are keen to welcome the next generation of students to Purdue as mentors before graduating.
“I want to be in the same shoes as a student mentor,” Jacob said. “I want to help them make friends, do homework and guide them towards success like my mentors did for me.”
