Engineers for Day event building career for life

Chris Ackerman of SSOE Group judges the Lego castle competition as students from area high schools watch during the Engineer for the Day program at SSOE's Toledo headquarters. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Chris Ackerman peered into one of the Lego models on the table in front of him.

There was a nickel tucked inside. Points for creativity, he said with a laugh, but the bribe wouldn't work.

Mr. Ackerman, a project controller with SSOE Group in Toledo, was judging the six Lego entry gates built Wednesday afternoon as part of an Engineer for the Day exercise for National Engineers Week.

The prize would go to the team of high school students who most accurately followed the printed instructions -- and then a change order -- to build their structure.

But the more important victory is teaching students teamwork and winning them over for engineering-based careers.

"We want to get students interested in engineering at an early age," said Denese Adams, the human resource manager for SSOE in Toledo. "There's a decline in the U.S. in the number of students that are approaching the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] areas, so we want to make sure they're introduced at the right age to capture them."

A hot dog sizzles as it is cooked with electrical energy. The event's goal was to entice participants to consider engineering-based careers as the number of students approaching the discipline declines. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

For Engineers Week, SSOE and other engineering firms work with the University of Toledo and the Technical Society of Toledo to exhibit their crafts and help pupils get a better idea of what it is that engineers do in the real world.

"Many students, they may not know an engineer. Their perception of what an engineer does may not be what they think they want to do, but when they see young engineers, female engineers, minority engineers, people that look like they do, they see that 'Wow, I can still be who I am and be an engineer.' I think that's impactful," Ms. Adams said.

About 30 students from Bedford High School, Ida (Mich.) High School, the Toledo Islamic Academy, Sylvania Southview, and Edison High School in Milan, Ohio, attended the seminar at SSOE. Their day started at UT, where students attended a luncheon and were given an introduction to various engineering disciplines and lab demonstrations.

"We got to see what we really could apply our knowledge to," said Emily Holmes, a senior at Bedford. "I think I have more of an understanding of what I could go into.

"I really was kind of dead-set on bioengineering, but now I'm kind of looking at the others, like chemical engineering," she said. "I have more of an interest in the other areas now that I know exactly what they do."

The remote-controlled Etch A Sketch is a collaborative engineering senior project by University of Toledo alumnus Jonathan Bolback, who now works at SSOE. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Joseph Caruso, who teaches drafting and computer-aided design at Bedford High School, said he's been bringing his students to Engineering Week activities for 20 years.

"I want to bring my students into this world to see what they could do with their lives if they prepare themselves in school and do all the right things," he said while watching from the back of the room. "It can be very rewarding and satisfying."

Tyler Frederick, also a Bedford senior, is planning to attend a college engineering program.

"I want to do something helping people and using math and science. That seems to be what I'm good at. It makes sense. There's always a need for it, and there's good pay," he said.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.