Eighth-grade girls learn about career options in engineering

When eighth-grade girls took part in the “Build Your City” exercise as part of Engineering Girls Day at ITD, they were introduced to every aspect of engineering short of nuclear. It turns out a uranium-enrichment facility was not on the short list of necessities for the mythical township they were creating.

Go figure.

Along with several chaperones, eighth-grade girls from throughout the Treasure Valley and beyond (including one who recently relocated from Dubai) attended the third annual Engineering Girls event at Headquarters in Boise. The event coincided with national engineering week.

ITD’s Engineering Girls program introduces girls to a possible career path they may not have considered in the past.
Design engineer and WTS President Monica Crider, GARVEE Program Manager Amy Schroeder and ITD senior Human Resource specialist Michelle George led the group on a tour of the Materials Lab and conducted several educational activities.

The day began with the “Build Your City” exercise that challenged girls to design a city and think about the engineering disciplines involved in the process. The city, laid out on a large whiteboard, included such amenities as:

  • Power generators
  • Residences
  • Police and fire complexes
  • An airport
  • Schools
  • A car dealership
  • Street lights to reduce crime
  • A sewer treatment/waste management facility
  • Grocery store
  • Water supply (on the other end of town, prudently placed upriver of the sewer plant), and
  • Ample leisure options like a mall, fast food restaurants, park, boat launch and zoo

Roads and bridges were used to connect them. A gas station and hospital also were added, although they were clearly an afterthought.

Nothing about life in the U.S. is an afterthought for Joel and Joelle Perez. Foresight is what brought the Perez family from Dubai six years ago in search of a better life and better opportunities. The Perezes landed first in Pendleton, Ore., and two years ago moved to Caldwell when a better job offer came in from West Valley Medical Center.

“In Dubai, they are not too interested in education,” Joel said.

Joelle was one of the 19 attendees at the Engineering Girls event.

His daughter already is interested in software engineering and attended Micron’s boot camp last year. She was intrigued by the geo-technical options presented at Thursday’s event, particularly the materials lab demonstration by Ron Wright.

“I didn’t know there was so much to it,” said Joelle. “Compaction, density … I had no idea.”

Wright, ITD chemist supervisor, led a tour of the department’s lab and pointed out a variety of activities, each requiring a different set of skills and talents, that are available as careers for the girls to pursue.

Chemistry, structures, asphalt mixes, the department’s profiler van, an Incident Response truck, and the opportunity to use ITD’s snowplow simulator to move digital snow were among the day’s highlights. Activities culminated with a presentation from Kathleen Slinger and Shanon Murgoitio, two of ITD’s female engineers in the ITD Bridge section.

A thank you to ITD volunteers involved in the Engineering Girls effort:

Ken Acree, Chris Alden, Duane Brothers, Shona Cheever, Barb Conklin, Monica Crider, Travis Enzminger, Joy Finley, Michelle George, Dianna Hoffecker, Rebecca Howell, Nolan Hutsell,  Amanda LaMott, Laila Maqbool, Shanon Murgoitio, Amy Schroeder, Kathleen Slinger, Mike Sprague, Janie Stillwell, Karen Strauss, Joe Tamasco, Sajanora Tipuric, Annette Tetreault, Kyle Wright, Ron Wright and Building Services.

Thanks also to Dave Butzier and Dick Jacobsen of Connecting Idaho Partners/URS for providing refreshments.

Published 3-1-13