Outreach

wsu prep

Engineering and technology can be incredibly fun and interesting regardless of how old you are. Providing opportunities to engage in engineering and technology to our local community is so important to the College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology (EAST) that we even have a center devoted to do just that! The Center for Technology Outreach is all about encouraging, supporting and providing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) opportunities to K-12 students.

Community service is a vital part of WSU’s mission and EAST has enthusiastically embraced and expanded on that goal through outreach that focuses on the areas we do best, engineering and technology. We believe that young students who have fun, even challenging fun, with STEM will increase not only in skills and knowledge, but also their ability to problem solve, persevere in spite of mistakes and gain the confidence to be the innovators, creators and designers of the future.

EAST’s outreach is multi-layered to reach a wide audience and meet different objectives:
Introduction & Awareness -short term events to build interest and awareness in participants such as our Parent/Daughter Engineering Day, Family Engineering Day, on-site tours and participating in STEM Fests & Expo's

Engage & Experience - programs designed to engage students in more committed STEM activities or learning, and increase their confidence and interest in pursuing STEM related majors & careers. These include, FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics, FIRST LEGO League, Seaperch Underwater Robotics, Advanced Engineering Technology Camp and Beyond Nubots.

Educate & Support - In depth education support, designed with the goal of impacting the long-term education and career pathways of students. WSU PREP and Project Lead the Way both highlight EAST's long-term investment in K-12 education.

The outreach events that EAST has organized and sponsored has brought over 2000 people to WSU over the course of the 14-15 academic year and summer. Several thousand more people interacted with Baxter the robot and our FIRST Tech Challenge program through STEM fests & expo’s.

We are particularly proud of our newest program, WSU PREP, a free seven week summer school for jr. high students. The PREP is an intensive math, engineering and science program for kids who want to be challenged intellectually, have fun and make friends all at the same time. We really believe the PREP has the potential to change student’s lives and will help Utah grow its own engineers, technologists and scientist. Check it out on facebook/wsuprep.
Reaching out into the community and state with our outreach is a win-win. We are positively influencing Utah families and highlighting EAST’s degrees, people and commitment to being a part of the STEM solution. We are looking forward to bringing in even more great programs this year, including a CyberPatriots team supported through the School of Computing and partnering with the Air Force Association of Utah and Aerospace Ed. Foundation to host the Rube Goldberg Machines state competition.

This highlights another wonderful aspect of our extensive outreach, partnerships with Hill AFB, companies and organizations such as the Idaho National Laboratory and Soroptomist International, UVU, USU, SUU and UofU, Davis, Weber and Ogden School Districts along with local charter schools like the DaVinci Academy and more. We would really like to bring even more partners to the table! Serving our community and state through being an active provider and supporter of engineering and technology programs that are enjoyable, interesting and engaging to kids and families is a fantastic and vital part of what we do at EAST. Please join us! Contact Center for Technology Outreach director, Dana Dellinger at 801.626.7552 or danadellinger@weber.edu .

Outreach

More articles about the outreach events in EAST