College Hosts Day-long Event to Encourage Girls to Become Future Engineers

Feb. 28, 2020 – Richmond Community College held “Girls Exploring Engineering” on Saturday, Feb. 22, exposing young girls to various fields of engineering through fun, hands-on activities.

More than 30 girls ranging in age from second grade to 10th grade completed four different activities that introduced them to 3D printing, app development, electronics and robotics. All activities were led by women instructors with backgrounds in engineering or technology.

During their lunch break, the girls also heard from three young women who pursued or are pursuing careers in traditionally male-dominated fields. Apprile Mabe, a graduate of RichmondCC’s Mechanical Engineering program, is a CNC operator at GE in Wilmington. Celeste McCain, a graduate of RichmondCC’s Machining program, also works at GE in Wilmington as an aviation inspector. Bailey Varner is currently enrolled in the Electric Utility and Substation Relay Technology program.

“The goal of this day-long event was to bring awareness to young girls that they can have a future in engineering and technology and to introduce them to different areas of engineering in a fun way,” said Dr. Cynthia Reeves, Associate Dean of Grants and Special Projects at RichmondCC. “We will also be offering a Girls Robotics summer camp for girls who are interested in learning and doing more. We hope many of these young ladies will return for the summer camp.”

All the girls who attended the event last Saturday received a T-shirt that says “Future Engineer.”

For more information about the Girls Robotics summer camps and other STEAM camps at RichmondCC, contact Reeves at careeves@richmondcc.edu or (910) 410-1817.