Four years ago, Women's Transportation Seminar Orange County's Transportation YOU Committee partnered with Dale Junior High School within the Anaheim Union High School District to host the first Girls' Engineering Day. On February 24, 2018, AUHSD's South Junior High School hosted the 4th Annual Girls' Engineering Day for 124 middle school and high school girls in Anaheim, California.
Over 90 volunteers from numerous transportation-related civil and structural engineering firms mentored the girls on various elements of transportation planning and engineering through fun and informative hands-on activities.
"Our goal is to introduce middle and high school girls to a variety of transportation engineering-related careers," Transportation YOU Committee Chair and transportation services manager at T.Y. Lin International's Karen Chapman said. "[These] include structural, geotechnical, highway, and traffic engineering, surveying, and rail, transit, and environmental planning."
The event is a joint effort between AUHSD and WTS-OC to support STEM careers, and exemplifies the mission of WTS-OC Transportation YOU to mentor young girls into the world of engineering, math, science, and technology.
The girls travel through six station rotations throughout the day, which began with an introduction into a structural engineering collaborative bridge activity. Groups of girls were tasked to build a bridge from straws and tape to test the capacity to carry load - juice boxes.
The remainder of the day, the girls gained experience experimenting with models of terrain and impacts of flood, watershed, and environmental hazards at the Environmental Station. The Highway/Traffic Station and Rail/Transit Station allowed the girls to plan and design routes, exposing them to face operational and economic concerns that engineers face within the workforce.
At the Geotechnical Station, girls learned about soils and sediment conditions, and how these details are used to scientifically design structures and foundations, while the Survey Station gave the girls an opportunity to see three-dimensional imaging taken by a drone, which is typically used by engineering disciplines for planning, design, and construction.
Each station rotation also included a College and Careers presentation by current university students, interns, and/or entry-level engineers who shared with the girls their collegiate path and their journey into the transportation industry.
Each year, the outpouring support from the communities served by the AUHSD and the transportation industry alike is incredible. This past year was no different.
AUHSD invited students from Shadow Ridge School in Hesperia to attend, and senior, Starr Irvin shared on the drive back home, "I see this differently than I did this morning."
When Irwin's statement was shared with AUHSD, Dale Junior High's science teacher Phyllis Fukumoto added, "It pretty much sums up how truly special and unique Girls' Engineering Day is."
