Students from Green Bank Elementary-Middle School had an opportunity to attend “Intro- duce a Girl to Engineering Day 2017” at the Advanced Technology Center in Fairmont. Attending the March 29 event were: Shyann Barb, Sienna Bircher, Natalie Halterman, Jennalee Meck, Kylie Shinaberry, Destiny Vandevender and Cheylin Woodruff. The group was chaperoned by GBEMS science teacher Stacy Landis.
The event was facilitated by engineers and scientists – who also happen to be women. They led a day of discussions, hands-on-activities and mentoring with the goal of inspiring the next generation in engineering.
The day began with a team-building activity in which students had to use a rubber-band with strings attached to it to stack 10 plastic cups into the shape of a pyramid. The students had to do this without talking.
The next challenge was to engineer a model of a roller coaster with very limited materials.
“It was an amazing success,” Landis said. “I am proud to say that our girls from Pocahontas County successfully created a functioning coaster model with two loops! They did this within the restricted allotted time frame. The girls were then introduced to robots, constructed by college students. Our Pocahontas County girls jumped at the opportunity to manipulate the robots.”
Lunch was provided by Pizza Hut. Afterwards there was a panel discussion with the engineers and scientists, encouraging future paths for the eighth grade students.
The GBEMS girls came home asking questions about engineering careers and what course and courses they would have to take to pursue those careers.