Penn State's Women in the Sciences and Engineering (WISE) Institute hosted several students from Pennsylvania and its neighboring states Saturday at the 19th annual Expand Your Horizons One-Day Camp.
Sixth- to ninth-grade female students learned about science, technology, engineering and mathematics through various workshops sponsored by WISE.
Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosted 12 students at its "Egg-xtraordinary Engineers -- Splat!" workshop within the Expand Your Horizons (EYH) One-Day Camp.
Students in the workshop were given the task of designing a device that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped from the second story of the Kunkle Lounge in the Hammond Building.
"The goal of this workshop is to show teamwork and problem solving because they are used every day," said Natalie Bryner, SWE president.
Students formed pairs and constructed devices from packing peanuts, string, felt, paper towels and masking tape, among other supplies. They were given $10 to $15 worth of fake money, which they used to purchase their supplies from a fake storekeeper.
Despite only three out of the six eggs surviving the two-story drop, young girls still learned about possibilities for women in engineering, Bryner said.
"Expanding Your Horizons is such a wonderful program. It makes such a nice effort to reach out to the community. It encourages girls and teaches them that there's more than one option in the engineering field," said Sumita Saini, a mother of a high school freshman from Dayton, Ohio, participating in SWE's workshop.
EYH One-Day Camp showed young girls they should not be discouraged to take math and science courses, Saini said.
"My daughter walked into her high school math and sciences classes in the beginning of the school year, and all the students were male upperclassmen. She felt so discouraged," Saini said.
Society of Women Engineers member Caroline Kindall (freshman-mechanical engineering) recounted a similar experience in high school.
"It was some sort of discouragement because all my math and science classes were dominated by guys, but it's so nice to see young people at this workshop interested," Kindall said. "I just love seeing it."
Being taught by female college students at these workshops made it easier for the young girls to imagine futures in the engineering field, Saini said.
"The kids see older women in engineering professions, but they can relate more to college students. It's so nice for them to see this," Saini said.
The workshops showed young girls they could have futures in engineering, Bryner said.
"It's awesome to show students that there are female engineers and that they do have role models," Bryner said.
