Samantha Beck/ Winonan

The term “golfing” often invokes the image of relaxed white pants, lush green fields and business interactions. But golfing can mean much more. Outings such as the 12th annual composites engineering golf outing gives one student the opportunity to take home a scholarship.

Alumni who have returned to support WSU students will be teeing off at 1 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Cedar Valley Golf Course for the outing.

“This event will sponsor two scholarships for engineering students totaling $1,000 each,” Ann MacDonald, the director of alumni relations, said.

The scholarships will be awarded to two students of Miller Brothers’ School of Engineering at Winona State.  Having available money for scholarships encourages students to choose engineering as a major and to excel in the field. This golf outing is just one of the ways the department of composite materials engineering reaches its goals.

There will be a mix of alumni, RTP Company workers and other suppliers at the outing.

“A few alumni will even be flying in from Arizona and other states to support the engineering department,” MacDonald said. “It is amazing that our alumni will come back just for this one event.”

The tournament shows the dedication and commitment in Winona State’s graduates.  Supporters of the department and outing are encouraged to attend. MacDonald will be directing multiple events throughout the year where alumni of a particular field will join recent graduates and students to network and talk about the future.

The event will be networking heaven on the greens. RTP Company is famous for hiring Winona’s engineering graduates. Other suppliers attend to get a feel for hiring graduates as well.

“This event creates a lot of opportunities for our students and graduates,” MacDonald said. 7 Rivers Alliance, Winona Area Composite Consortium and Winona State University are some of the sponsors for the golf outing.

“There will be 20 teams with four golfers on each team” Fariborz Parsi, chair of the department of composite materials engineering, said. Parsi has helped put on the event since it began 12 years ago.

According to Parsi, the past events have been “fairly successful.”

This event has created a cushion in the department’s fund to provide opportunities for engineering majors and graduates.

Lunch will be provided at noon for the golfers but the shotgun start is at 1 p.m. at Cedar Valley Golf Course.  After 18 holes of play are completed, social hour will begin at 5 p.m. with dinner to follow. Prizes will be awarded throughout the day and President Scott Olson will be attending the dinner as well.