HydraForce Hosts STEM Career Trek for Palatine High School

On Wednesday, February, 24, HydraForce hosted a group of Palatine High School students who are interested in becoming engineers.

"The visit represents HydraForce's commitment to encouraging students to pursue study in the STEM fields - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics," said Robyn Safron, Human Resources manager at HydraForce.

Eleven students participated in the program, which included tours of the HydraForce manufacturing plant and Innovation and Technology Center, presentations from employees in various engineering discipline - product design, sales, application engineering, and manufacturing engineering and a hands-on activity that introduced the students to 3D modeling engineering software.

"We really wanted to show the students the variety of careers available in engineering so we included presentations from each engineering department," said Rebecca Tiwet, one of the HydraForce engineers who organized the program. "Each presenter spoke about their individual path to becoming an engineer, and steps along that path including involvement in campus organizations, sports or internships that can enrich the college experience."

"HydraForce is a company that depends on the quality of its manufacturing and engineering as a competitive advantage, so when we heard that Palatine High School wanted to come in and learn about engineering from us, we were happy to have our people show what they can do," said Jim Brizzolara, HydraForce president and founder. "The study of engineering and other STEM fields is definitely a path to opportunity. Our management team reflects that, as many of them started with us as engineers or in manufacturing."

The STEM Career Trek at HydraForce included a half-hour computer-aided design session during which the 11 students were paired up with HydraForce manifold design engineers. With the engineers' guidance, the students created an actual engineering outline drawing of a hydraulic manifold.

"We really wanted to do some hands-on work with the students, so they were not listening to presentations all day," explained Emily Larsen, HydraForce manifold engineer. "So we did a short demonstration with the modeling software that we use. The final product of the software demo was a print that the students could take home with them."

"Our career trek to HydraForce was an exceptional opportunity for our students to learn first-hand about engineering careers. From start to finish, the entire day was phenomenal," said Peggy Byrne, career advisor with Palatine High School. "The chance to tour the facility, speak directly with engineers and engage in a design activity was a valuable learning experience for our students. They came back to class truly excited about the prospect of having a career in engineering."

Several of the students provided their perspectives on the event. Samuel R. (a junior) said, "The HydraForce experience was a great experience, and it gave me a feel for how engineering companies work. It gave me an opportunity to talk to engineers who work in the field. This visit really helped to show me that I would like to go into more of a mechanical design sense of engineering versus manufacturing engineer. The experience was fun and informative and I had a great time!"

"I thought it was an eye-opening experience being able to see different perspectives of engineers in their fields and being able to understand what goes on in a typical day, said Guadalupe S (a senior). "I enjoyed hearing about the experiences of other engineers working there. It gave me a better understanding of the career I want to go into," she added.

Stephanie V. (a junior) said, "The career trek to HydraForce was a great experience. I enjoyed being able to see how an actual facility works on a daily basis, being able to ask questions, and learning from actual engineers. Additionally, it was fun having a hands-on activity with an engineer teaching and helping you understand how the programs worked."

HydraForce, based in Lincolnshire, designs and manufactures high performance hydraulic fluid power cartridge valves, custom manifolds and electro-hydraulic controls. The company employs about 775 people at its headquarters and machining center in Lincolnshire and Innovation Center in Vernon Hills.

This summer, HydraForce is offering paid internships for college engineering students. To apply, a student must have completed their freshman year in college with a 3.25 GPA in engineering or 3.0 in general studies.