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Students Get Hands-On Engineering Experience

Posted at 4:20 PM, Feb 21, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-21 20:27:59-05

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.– Students at Godwin Heights Middle School got the chance to spend the day with Grand Valley State University’s engineering department.

It’s the second event out of four to teach students about careers in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields (STEM). Teacher Dawn Sobleskey says it’s exciting for her students who normally don’t get to do these types of things.

Hands-on activities such as Thursday’s are extremely helpful to steer kids towards these often unthought about fields, especially for young girls. A 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce says only one in seven engineers is female.

The final events of the year will include a visit by Spectrum Health to show students careers in the medical field and then a field trip to the West Michigan Aviation Academy to talk about careers in aviation.