Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009

Camp shows students the possibilities of careers in engineering and tech fields

StephonWashington, a student at Lincoln Middle School in East St. Louis, may one day pursue a career in the transportation industry.

He credits this new interest to the Summer Transportation Institute hosted by Southern Illinois University Carbondale's School of Engineering and Technology along with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. A grant from the Illinois Department of Public Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration helped pay for the event.

The weeklong camp is at the Village Theater at 6500 Missouri Ave.in Centreville.

"We have 20 middle school students attending the camp from around the region," said Linda Baker, a university professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

"The goal of the program is to address the critical skills shortage needed to increase the underrepresentation of women and minorities inthe field of engineering and technology," Baker said.

The grant that covers the cost of the program is more than $100,000, Baker said.

At camp, students got to see a hovercraft in operation on land.

Stephon said he likes the people the organizers brought in to talk to the students becausethey "made everything fun."

Idocia Perry, 15, a student in the Collinsville school district,said she found the camp interesting.

"They gave us a memory exercise. We had to remember everything. We worked as a group and had to communicate with each other. They teach us how to work as a team and give us hands on projects. I like that," she said.

Derrick Jackson, 15, from the Alton school district, said his cousin told him about the institute and felt it would be rewarding for him. Derrick said that what he likes about the presenters is they "tell us to have faith in ourselves, that we can do anything and to always look forward to the future.

"It's really fun. Math is not my best subject. Science is OK, though. This program has me ready to go back to school to show them what I know," Derrick said.

David T. Williams, visiting instructor with the Department of Technology at SIUC, taught at the institute.

He said he makes everything fun and then slips the more difficult aspects of the career -- math and science -- in on them. By then, young people are interested enough in what they're doing that they are willing to hang in with the more difficult aspects to accomplish a rewarding end result.

Participants in the institute learned about traffic flow problems and how decisions are made.

Also, students built a model hovercraft using a leaf blower and they built a remote controlled hovercraft. As part of the summer institute, students will also visit SIUC's aviation department.

"It's critical that we expose these students to these careers. There are many opportunities out there for them in these careers," Baker said.