'Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day' aims to reach one million youngsters

Mary Legatski
ASME Board on Minorities and Women

For the second consecutive year, the engineering community will include outreach to K-12 girls as part of Engineers Week activities.

E-Week organizers have designated Thursday, Feb. 21, as "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day." On that day, the engineering community will publicize the need to recruit more women into engineering education and careers, as well as reach out to K-12 girls with positive messages about math and science education and engineering careers.

The goal of the day's activities is to mobilize at least 10,000 female engineers who will reach out to one million girls. This will be done through activities ranging from corporate plant tours and job shadowing to demonstrations of basic scientific and engineering principles in K-12 classrooms and university open houses for high school students.

"Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" is an outgrowth of the first Engineers Week Diversity Summit, held in October 1999. The long-term objective of the activity is to attract increasing numbers of women to the engineering profession by raising the interest of girls and young women in engineering, math and science subjects long before they enter college.

The event is guided by a number of corporations and professional societies such as ASME, as well as by the National Academy of Engineering's Celebration of Women in Engineering program.

ASME's Board on Minorities and Women is working with ASME's Board on Public Information to promote awareness of, and participation in, this upcoming event.

Detailed information about the Feb. 21 event, including a booklet of information about working with girls and statistics on women in the engineering profession, is available at www.eweek.org by clicking on "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day."

For more information, contact Mary Legatski in the ASME Washington Center at (202) 785-3756 or at legatskim@asme.org.

Related story: Activities abound Feb. 17-23 for Engineers Week

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