Children learned about science and engineering at the Swearingen School of Engineering this Saturday at an Engineering Week Open House.
“We are reaching out to the community,” said Stefanie Perrell, the outreach and recruitment director for Swearingen. “The whole purpose is to get younger kids interested in engineering and computer science and to actually bring them here and show them things they could be doing some day.”
The National Guard brought a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in honor of the event, and attendees were able to climb inside the helicopter to get a better understanding of what the U.S. military uses.
“I think it’s important so the community gets to see us and see what we do, how we operate. It’s cool to have a face to face with us and be able to kind of explain what we do,” Chief Warrant Officer Antonio Montgomery said.
The engineering program has access to various military aircraft for research and experimentation across all of the engineering degrees.
“I think it’s really cool because kids can come out and see what the whole Apache is about and what we do,” said Evan Barnett, a third-year biomedical engineering student.
Different activities including a cornstarch pool, an airgun, segways and putty were set up outside Swearingen.
“We show them kind of on a level they understand, like basic stuff like marshmallow and toothpick structures could some day turn into civil engineering,” said Perrell. “We want to expose them to these ideas of engineering and computer science as young as possible with the hopes that they continue on and come to college and do something like that.”
Engineers Without Borders, an organization currently working on a clean water pipeline in Ecuador, set up a model water line to give kids a visual representation of the real work engineers do as well as raise awareness for those who do not have access to clean water.
“As we go, kids are adding on little pieces of the toilet paper rolls so that we can complete the circuit all the way to our village down there,” William Rivers, a third-year biochemistry student, said.
Students of all ages came out to explore the different activities at Swearingen and Blatt P.E. fields. Children as young as 8 years old were eager to learn more about science and engineering.
“I’m looking around because last year we saw a bunch of cool stuff here and I want to check out the stuff here this year too,” fifth grader Peyton Sizemor said."I like that we get to experiment with stuff."
Many young girls attended the Engineering Week Open House, exemplifying the recent push for girls in STEM fields.
“I think it’s so important because it gets them out of the room full of dolls, and they can see there’s so much out there,” Ashley Thomas-Bosch, Sizemor's mother, said. “They can achieve anything, especially now.”