STEM Summer Program Introduces High School Girls to Engineering
Date Posted: June 3, 2014
Posted In: News,
Seven local engineering companies are teaming up with Cor Jesu Academy to offer the Summer Engineering Experience, a week of hands-on exposure for high school junior and senior girls to learn what a career in engineering entails. Twenty-two Cor Jesu students are spending five days (June 2-6) discovering and exploring within the field of engineering with professionals from Ameren, Watlow, Hastings + Chivetta, Horner & Shifrin, Access Engineering, DJM Ecological Services and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Each day, students will engage in activities that focus on a different engineering discipline – civil, electrical, mechanical, biomedical and chemical – immersing students at various sites into activities uniquely reflective of that discipline.
Called the STEM Corporate Partners Initiative, the program was launched last spring by the participating companies and Cor Jesu. It offers high school girls engineering scholarships, internship opportunities, academic program support, professional job shadowing and the Summer Engineering Experience.
“A woman graduating from college this year with an engineering degree can virtually write her own ticket to a lucrative career, due to the chronic shortage of women in this field and the desire by engineering companies to hire professional women,” said Sr. Barbara Thomas, ACSJ, President of Cor Jesu Academy. “This program heightens students’ awareness of potential opportunities in engineering and helps connect our STEM Corporate Partners with future employees. Our mission is to teach our students to utilize their gifts to transform the world. We see engineering as an opportune environment to do just that.”
The Summer Engineering Experience will include the following activities:
Monday, June 2 – Civil Engineering: Students will work side-by-side on campus with practicing engineers from four firms to prepare a conceptual site plan for Cor Jesu Academy’s recently announced campus expansion.
Tuesday, June 3 – Electrical Engineering: Ameren will engage students in learning and problem-solving activities related to electrical energy sources.
Wednesday, June 4 – Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering: Students will visit a Watlow plant and experience how raw materials from the earth are transformed into pieces of technology that people see and use every day and learn how a local manufacturing company helps its customers and community solve problems
Thursday, June 5 – Biomedical and Chemical Engineering: Students will visit two Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals facilities to experience how materials are selected for containment and delivery of pharmaceuticals and what is involved in processing and compressing into drug tablets for final dosage forms.
Friday, June 6 – Group Discussions and Presentations: Panel presentations and small group discussions at Cor Jesu Academy with students and participating companies to recap the week, discuss experiences and draw important conclusions.
For more information on the STEM Corporate Initiative and Cor Jesu, visit www.corjesu.org/stem.