CMS Girls Engineering Camp, photo by Texas A&M University, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
Washington School hosts “Introduce a girl to Engineering Day”
There’s a guy I know who was so concerned about the disproportionate number of women in math and science that when his daughter was born, he vowed that every time she was complimented on her looks, he would add the postscript, “and she’s good at math and science too.”
The aerospace company Raytheon is also concerned about the number of women going into math and science, but it’s taking another tack than my friend.
“Three Cheers to Engineers!” was the slogan at Washington Elementary School on Feb. 25, where Raytheon hosted an “Introduce A Girl to Engineering Day” for more than 60 upper grade students.
“Math Rocks!” was one of the four learning stations, where students were challenged to build moveable cars out of candy, cookies and frosting (similar to ginger bread houses), where each of the ingredients had a point-value, and the points couldn’t add up to more than 300.
“The best part is eating the cars when you’re done,” said Sarah Strickland, one of several financial analysts who helped plan the project.
Electrical Engineer Lisa Dunn, who just two years ago was the president of UCSB’s Society of Women Engineers, worked with a group of kids constructing boats out of tin foil. They used their engineering skills to make a seaworthy craft and their math skills to figure out the maximum number of pennies their boats would float.
Software Engineer Ben Burleson was the “balloon flinker,” helping the students test gravity, using foam cups filled with packing peanuts and attached to helium balloons.
Helium also played a critical role in the hovercraft experiment, where students like Gwen Archambault and Korrina Harmsen created floating vehicles out of balloons and paper plates.
Materials and Process Engineer Elizabeth Mallon gave the keynote speech, explaining the difference between engineering and science to students, who were eager to find out what the different industries are that use these skills and what kind of education is needed.
“They asked a lot of questions,” said Mallon. It’s not like high school presentations where they’re too cool — or too shy — to ask.
“Women are very smart and clever and we want to get more of them in our workforce,” said Francisco Cabrera, in explaining to the students (including a few boys) why Raytheon had sponsored the event.
Raffle prizes included an autographed book about Sally Ride, junior science kits, fiber optic lead pencils and more, including the grand prize — a home planetarium star theatre, which went to Caitlin Connor.
Raytheon also donated engineering books, videos and bookmarks to the Washington School library and all of the participating students received “Three Cheers to Engineers!” t-shirts, as well as goodie bags, said Isabel Villegas, the Human Resources representative who coordinated the whole event, as part of Raytheon’s observation of National Engineering Week.
Last year the company hosted Kellogg School students at Raytheon, but spokesman Ron Colman said next year they’ll pick another elementary school and bring the program to the students, since they got an even better turnout than expected.
Raytheon also hosted a week of job shadowing with members of UCSB’s National Society of Black Engineers, which included an engineering competition, an ice cream social and a free hot dog lunch.
“We’re hoping to hire some of the students that came in,” said Villegas, adding that last year’s AS president Jamie Fitz-Gerald is now working at Raytheon.