This topic came of great interest to me being a civil engineering student who’s currently taking a class in water resource engineering.  First of all, the research I had to do informed me of the problem they had in Flint, and also caused me to realize the importance that sound infrastructure engineering has to the citizens it will effect.  Policy plays an important factor in the decisions made which will ultimately result in the final decisions.  I became empathetic to the citizens of Flint, and grew contemptuous for the powers that made these disastrous decisions.  I did appreciate the other side however.  It is a tough task to balance a budget with minimal dollars in a failing economy.  But the more I see about the topic, the more it looks like the emergency manager was just trying to be a hero, rather than suck it up and declare bankruptcy (like so many other cities in their position have done).  As far as the actual talk; I felt great.  I was comfortable in front of my classmates.  I felt that they were engaged.  And I tried to go up there with a lot of energy, so as to not lose their interest.  It really made me appreciate the John Stewarts andJohn Olivers of the world, and how much preparation they put in and how great their delivery is.  So far this was my favorite project of the semester.