At a glance
Nearly 150 high school students from five area school districts visited Alfred State Friday to discover the exciting worlds of engineering and technology as part of National Engineers Week.
Nearly 150 high school students from five area school districts visited Alfred State Friday to discover the exciting worlds of engineering and technology as part of National Engineers Week.
Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, the week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers, according to www.nspe.org. Throughout last week, 34 Alfred State students in the School of Architecture, Management, and Engineering Technology showcased the many great projects and activities they engage in at the college through various clubs and organizations.
Participating Alfred State groups included the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Architecture Club, the Associated General Contractors of America, the Robotics Club, the Alfred State Information Security Team, Women In Non-traditional Studies, and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping Glickman Chapter.
High schools that attended Friday’s event were from Hornell, Arkport, Elmira, Scio, and the Greater Southern Tier BOCES Wildwood campus. In addition to learning from Alfred State students, high school students also took part in a fun design challenge, in which their teams were tasked with designing and building a table out of a newspaper that was at least 8 inches tall and could hold, at minimum, a 200-page textbook.
Alex Surdyk, an electrical engineering technology major from Hamburg, said the event was Alfred State’s chance to show high school students that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are “not just math and numbers, but instead something that you can see, feel, and be a part of.”
“It is crucial to the continuing development of society and the human race as a whole to continue to make advancements in STEM,” he said. “We need young minds to lead us into the future.”
For Josh Weaver, a junior from the Elmira City School District, and Jasmine Mosko, a freshman from Arkport Central School, the day was about fun and learning.
“It was fun and people were nice about everything while they were trying to teach everyone what was going on and trying to get other people interested in what they were doing,” Weaver said. “I learned about how certain architectural things are made.”
Mosko said, “It was fun because we got to do hands-on activities and learn different things.”
Dr. John Williams, dean of the School of Architecture, Management, and Engineering Technology, said he received many positive comments from the visitors and that the vast majority of high school students were engaged in the event. He also noted that he is very proud of his school’s students.
“Watching them represent their fields and seeing the passion they have for what they are studying, it was a great day,” Williams said.
In photo above: Alex Surdyk, an electrical engineering technology major from Hamburg, right, judges one of the entries in the design challenge that was part of Friday’s National Engineers Week event.