Engineering camp designed to attract girls to field
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Unlike boys, Kim Higgins said girls aren't encouraged enough to pursue a career in a STEM field - science, technology, engineering and math.
Higgins, an assistant to the dean of the college of engineering at the University of Evansville, hopes girls develop the confidence to know and pursue STEM options for future careers after attending UE's OPTIONS summer career exploration camp. Higgins is a camp coordinator.
"So many times, girls at this age are not pushed toward this career path. . I want them to have a can-do attitude," she said. "They can do anything the boys can do."
On a steamy Wednesday morning, 20 middle school girls prepared to launch rockets they made earlier in the week. Campers also take mini-classes, watch engineers and scientists in action, make lip balm and build suspension bridges.
Higgins said the camp is good exposure to a variety of engineering options, including mechanical, civil, electrical and computer.
The OPTIONS summer camp for middle school girls started in 2004, but the high school girls camp launched 25 years ago, and a version for boys began in 2009.
Brownsburg East Middle School seventh grader Reese Langhorne is certain she will pursue a degree in engineering, but she's still narrowing down a specific field.
"I took an engineering class in sixth grade and found my happy place," she said.
Langhorne, 12, said her mom is a UE graduate and found the camp online.
"It was an amazing experience (building rockets)," she said. "I built one when I was 7, and don't remember it being that hard. Building a circuit board from scratch was easier than this."
Addison Stindle started completing do-it-yourself projects in fourth grade. That's when the now-12-year old seventh grader at Fall Creek Junior High in Fishers, Indiana realized engineering was her calling.
"I've learned not to overthink things," Stindle said. "In our first activity we had to stop a water balloon from busting and we made a crazy design, which didn't work. Some people made a simple design and it worked. You don't have to overthink everything and make it super complicated."
OPTIONS is a residential camp, so girls stay in dorms on campus.
"They get to experience a little taste of college life early on, so hopefully it plants that seed," Higgins said.
Elizabeth Collier was a middle and high school camper, and now helps as a counselor. Collier, 21, is a UE senior majoring in electrical engineering. Collier enjoys seeing the girls be enthusiastic about engineering.
"I like how versatile (engineering) is," she said. "You can do pretty much anything you like."
Jessica Lofton, UE mechanical engineering assistant professor and camp director, said when she was in school there weren't many girls in her classes at UE.
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Source Evansville Courier & Press, http://bit.ly/2sxKqmb
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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com