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Engineering career choices

Epicenter event exposes students to opportunities

PEYTON NEELY The Marietta Times Williamstown High School junior Susan Fauber, 16, works with Waterford junior Austin Pyatt, 17, during a bridge building activity at the Epicenter during Discover Engineering Day on Thursday.

Prospective engineers were able to get some hands-on learning during the Epicenter’s Discover Engineering Day on Thursday. Twenty-six students from all over Washington County, and even across the Ohio River in Williamstown, learned about different types of engineering during the first ever event held at the Epicenter.

“I went to each of the schools and asked them to send me students that had an interest in engineering,” said Tonya Davis, Building Bridges to Careers coordinator.

The Epicenter is an entrepreneurial and education center based around real world work experiences. The site opened in January and was created by Building Bridges to Careers, a nonprofit organization working to bring employment after education for all students in Washington County and beyond.

Since opening, the Epicenter has had businesses move into the work space and the Discover Engineering Day was the first event for students. The event was sponsored by Burgess and Niple, a multidisciplined engineering and architectural firm in Parkersburg.

“We have a need for engineers in Ohio, West Virginia and across the nation,” said Project Engineer Craig Richards. “The purpose for this is to get the students interested in a possible career.”

Students attended from Belpre High School, Frontier High School, Williamstown High School, Warren High School, Waterford High School, Marietta High School and Shenandoah High School.

“I’m not really sure what I want to do yet or where I’m going with jobs,” said Katie Foster, 15, of Belpre. “This is just giving me experience and will help in the future.”

Students switched between three activities. One was constructing a bridge out of materials like scotch tape, straws and cardboard pieces. The students had five minutes to construct the bridge and then were judged by the engineers of Burgess and Niple. The materials were purchased with fake money to show the expenses that come before construction.

Waterford junior Austin Pyatt, 17, said he enjoys learning how things work.

“I’ve always been really interested in math and science,” he said. “I like to design things and it would be really cool to design things that help in the future.”

Pyatt was alongside Williamstown junior Susan Fauber, 16, as they worked together to build their bridge. This activity also focused on teamwork as the two communicated ideas to construct the bridge.

“The interest in engineering came from summer camps I’ve gone to,” said Fauber. “There are different kinds of engineering and I like exploring that.”

The other two activities consisted of a question-and-answer forum about engineering and electric engineering exercise where students used resources to try and get music to play through electric circuits.

“This is such a fun day and the kids are asking really great questions,” said Barb Schafer, Building Bridges to Careers programs facilitator for Warren Local Schools. “The students came here by choice so I’m not surprised that they’re so interested. Some of this shows them things they don’t have in their home schools.”

After the students went through all the activities, they were then a part of a networking lunch where they could ask the questions to the engineers about what they do. Davis also mentioned that she had a job shadowing list available before the students left the event so they could express interest in possible internships in the future.

“We mixed up all the students to be with kids from different schools,” said Davis. “It’s wonderful to see the students work together.”

At a glance

¯The Epicenter is located on the ground floor of the Armory at 241 Front St. in Marietta.

¯The Building Bridges to Careers Epicenter is a comprehensive entrepreneurial and education center.

¯It offers benefits to students in the county and businesses that partner with them.

Source: Tonya Davis, Building Bridges to Careers coordinator.

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