Almost 2,000 elementary school students built towers made of straw and homemade catapults this week in an effort by the College of Engineering to promote the importance of science and math at an early age.
The annual elementary engineering event, which has been going on for 12 years, brought fifth- and sixth-graders from 24 schools around the state to learn about the field of engineering. The activities were designed to spark youngsters’ interest in engineering and included making clay fish that either float or sink.
“We need to start the importance of math and science early,” said Deidre Schoenfeld, coordinator of outreach and diversity for the college.
The outreach program is part of Utah’s Engineering Initiative, which was first pushed by former Gov. Mike Leavitt in 2001 as one of his re-election campaign pledges.
The Utah Legislature gave millions of dollars to graduate students from Utah engineering colleges.
“The Governor and Legislature (are) aware of the connection between engineering and the state’s economy,” said College of Engineering Dean Richard Brown. “Businesses communicate to (the) Legislature about the need for engineering graduates.”
However, last year the college received $45,000 from the Engineering Initiative, a significantly smaller amount than the millions of dollars annually received in previous years, Brown said.
Because of the smaller amount, the college decided to pour all available funds into outreach.
Brown said he’s hopeful this year’s initiative funds will be much larger and able to fund more projects.
New students came to the Union Ballroom every day this week to learn about aspects of civil engineering, software engineering and more.
The annual event is one of several ways the engineering college encourages students to consider engineering as a potential career choice through outreach programs.
Schoenfeld said the college recognizes the need to help students decide on a career path early. Students can choose classes in high school to start them off in what they want to do, she said.
“There’s a difference between being college-ready and engineering-ready,” Schoenfeld said. “We need to help students make informed decisions.”
Jeanne Leigh-Goldstein, whose sixth-grade class attended the activities Thursday, said the class has been excited all week to visit the U. Leigh-Goldstein’s class learned about the medieval age, including catapults, in class. And while at the U, the visiting children built their own catapult and competed with other classes to see whose could throw the farthest. The engineering college and local teachers collaborated to excite the kids about the event and to make the math and science aspects of engineering fun.
“It’s not promoted enough in schools,” Leigh-Goldstein said. “It just doesn’t happen at all.”