(Photo: Talbert Johnson)
Sixth grader Emma McKrentz isn’t sure if she wants to be an engineer yet, but she’s already seriously thinking about it.
McKrentz is not the only one who is looking ahead. Girls across the province got an opportunity to look at what a career in engineering could involve at various Go ENG girl events held at more than 15 universities across Ontario Oct. 17.
These events, which welcomed girls from grades seven to 10, featured talks from current engineering students, tours of the university’s engineering faculty and engineering workshops that allow girls to explore different fields of engineering.
“It’s a lot better here than at school, the hands on part is really cool, and helps you learn a lot,” McKrentz said.
Now in its fifth year, the Go ENG Girl program aims to dispel stereotypes about the engineering profession, and to teach a new generation that the self-proclaimed “caring profession” is not just for men.
“Engineering is a great profession, there are a lot of opportunities and a wide range of different backgrounds and fields,” said Chris Allsop, a representative for the University of Windsor, one of the universities hosting the event. “We want to introduce young women to engineering and all that it has to offer.”
“I think a lot of times it’s a lack of understanding about what engineering is all about. It’s a stereotypical field, people think that it is for men,” Allsop said.
Allsop said it was necessary to start teaching girls about engineering young, so that they could start planning their high school courses to accommodate engineering’s admission requirements.
“You basically have to decide by the time you go into Grade 9, so you need to work with them while they’re still young so that they have the option to take all the necessary courses, and while they’re still open minded.”
“Engineers impact our lives, they have to care about what they are doing,” Allsop said.
“It really broadened my exposure,” Morgan McKay, a Grade 9 student from Ottawa said of the event she attended at Carleton’s school of engineering.
Each event can accommodate 60 girls, with more than 1,000 girls attending events across Ontario. For some, this is their second, and even third time attending the program.
McKrentz said she will likely come back next year so she can further explore engineering’s many different facets.
Statistics haven’t yet shown that the events are increasing female admissions into the program, but Allsop said there seem to be more girls going into engineering, and in general more open-mindedness about engineering.