My Story
When I was eight years old, I decided that I needed a way to transport things up to my bunk bed, without having to go down and get them myself. So, I built myself an “elevator” using a pulley system that would pull a basket of books up and down my bunk bed - my first foray into engineering. A few years later I joined an engineering club in middle school called SECME. My all-female team and I competed in the mousetrap car competition, and won the district competition twice! We advanced to the national level two years in a row and won the national competition in the second year. Participating in engineering competitions inspired me to pursue an engineering career, as I was passionate about the work I was doing. I helped younger students in my SECME class with their projects as well as mine, as they wished to pursue engineering careers, but were not as exposed to the fundamentals of science and engineering. While helping them out, I realized that it was fun to help younger people with things they were passionate about. Since then, I have also judged several science and engineering projects at middle school science fairs to give feedback to younger students. I am passionate about helping younger girls who haven’t had the opportunity to unlock their full potential.
My Project
My project is to form an engineering club in the local Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida, which typically caters to underprivileged children in the community. I plan to recruit 8-12 elementary and middle school level girls into the club and expose them to the field of engineering via different engineering-related activities.
I would like to work with them on hands-on engineering challenges like the ones offered by the SECME engineering design challenge competition, such as mousetrap car, egg drop, and water bottle rocketry. These challenges also include learning how to document one’s work in the form of engineering reports, drawings and presentations. Students also learn how to work effectively in teams and develop leadership and time management skills. I feel I will be able to share my experiences and coach these kids to participate in the SECME competition.
I would also like to organize an engineering camp in which I would bring in guest speakers from the community who can share their experiences in engineering career development; arrange some field trips to the different engineering departments at the University of Central Florida in order for the club members to experience first-hand, the enriching experience of an engineering field of education. I would also organize some field trips to the local engineering companies like Siemens Energy and Lockheed Martin to give them exposure to applications of such an engineering education into a rewarding career.
By making fruitful use of after-school time, I hope to stimulate their bright minds with creative engineering challenges. In addition, they would also learn teamwork, effective time-management and communication skills. By exposing them to the field of science and careers in engineering, I hope to see more girls in the field of engineering especially ones from underprivileged backgrounds.