As part of National Engineers week, more than 200 eighth grade girls from area middle schools attended the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day event at NDSU. The whole day was focused on exposing girls to engineering and the opportunities available in STEM fields.

This event was organized by the College of Engineering with the help of NDSU Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and female engineers from area engineering firms.

The other activity the girls took part in was another structural engineering project involving toothpicks and marshmallows. The students were tasked with creating another structure that would be structurally sound enough to withstand an earthquake. Like the towers, the girls were able to test and retest their structures in an earthquake simulation.

SWE members and company representatives helped guide the students through conversations about engineering and its importance in the world. These activities gave the girls the opportunity to discuss different things they learned while designing their structures as well key factors that need to be accounted for when designing a project.

After the projects, the girls watched Dream Big: Engineering Our World, a film about civil engineering and how engineering projects shape the world around us.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day continued with company visits. Girls split up and visited local engineering firms, including Appareo, Bobcat, John Deere, KLJ, Microsoft, Moore Engineering, and SRF Consulting Group, Inc. Students spent the afternoon working with female engineer mentors learning even more about engineering while making memories.

Some kids want to be doctors growing up, while others want to be teachers. Hopefully, after an exciting Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, some will consider being the future engineers that shape our world.