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SoE takes home Students’ Choice Award at BBBS Discovery Festival

December 20, 2024 - By Carly Bowling

photo: discovery festival winners

The University of New Mexico School of Engineering received the Students’ Choice Award for its table at the Big Brothers Big Sisters Discovery Festival 2024, last month.

The Engineering Student Success Center (ESS) and the Center for Water and the Environment hosted the table with the help of many staff members and UNM students. The team worked hard to ensure their setup was interactive and featured several exciting displays and activities. The Discovery Festival, which was sponsored by Honeywell, is a STEAM-h event aimed at connecting youth to organizations working in science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics and health through interactive activities.

The School of Engineering has attended the event since its inception and uses it to help show young learners what STEM can look like, while also promoting summer programs and educational opportunities to high school students. This year more than 1,900 local K-12 students attended the event.

“Recruitment of students into engineering and computer science fields is our priority, however, K-12 outreach is equally important. Building the pipeline of students with an interest in STEM from the elementary and middle school levels is critical. We want to provide that foundational knowledge in math and science and get children STEM-bound early on,” Elsa Castillo, ESS director, said.

Displays at the event included a floodplain simulator, Elegoo smart robot car, a microscope with samples, power grid models and software, an insta worms demo that illustrates polymer chemistry, and a rocket built by UNM’s Lobo Launch team.

“Through hands-on activities, we aim to inspire students to see STEM as both accessible and impactful. For ESS, these efforts are especially critical as we work to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists,” Aidira Macias-Gonzalez, ESS education and outreach manager, said. “Participation in these events helps foster a passion for solving real-world problems. Ultimately, our goal is to connect with young minds and empower them to see themselves as future problem-solvers who can make meaningful contributions to their communities.”

One of the goals for the Center for Water and the Environment is to attract a more diverse, equitable and inclusive student base into STEM disciplines. The center attends nearly two dozen community outreach events every school year to help build interest in environmental and water science and engineering. The group’s floodplain simulator gave students an opportunity to explore the value of wetlands and retention ponds in flood management, witness how downstream communities are affected by runoff, and work as a team to find and test solutions to a variety of floodplain problems.

“We want students to know that they have the opportunity to work on solving real-world problems that matter to them and to their communities. Ultimately, our goal is to engage with young students to help create a better, more sustainable future,” said Sydney Donohue Jobe, outreach coordinator and education specialist for the Center for Water and the Environment.

Donohue Jobe and Macias-Gonzalez found that students loved all of the experiments and displays, but the favorites were hands-on experiments like the floodplain simulator and insta worms demo, as well as the large rocket display.

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