IEEE club mentors area students

Some of the interests we carry with us for the rest of our lives find their roots in childhood, be it reading, art, sports or even engineering. That’s why the student IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Club took part in SUNYIT’s first STEM Day recently, welcoming sixth-graders from Jefferson Elementary School in Utica to learn all about engineering and its career possibilities.

“It’s very important to share this information with today’s youth, who are tomorrow’s engineers,” said K-12 Outreach Director Elizabeth Rossi. “And it’s a growing experience for the mentors here at SUNYIT as well.”

The students from Jefferson Elementary interacted with SUNYIT engineering students throughout the day at various hands-on stations that highlighted aspects of engineering. It was intended to spark early interest in math and science and open the door to possible STEM careers down the line.

“Because there was such a wide variety of kids, it was a good time to spark their interest in STEM subjects based on their own personal interests and preferences,” says Jeff Reed, a senior electrical engineering technology major. “This is the age at which they’re most impressionable, when they can think about different interests they have.”

IEEE Club member Aleesha Feole, a junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering, said she takes the opportunity to encourage young girls to follow their interests in math and science very seriously.

“I’m one of the few women in this field. I want to show these kids, especially young girls, that there is a female face to this—that they can do it,” she says. “I really enjoy it and I want them to know that if you like, you should go for it.”

Feole found her passion for science and engineering stoked via Project Lead the Way, an initiative that helped her take classes with different engineering topics in high school.

“I was the only woman in that and it really drew me in to the engineering field,” she says.

Starting early was the running theme throughout the day, as the young minds of SUNYIT engineering students helped the sixth-graders cultivate interest in engineering across a variety of genres. Sometimes that involved looking inside computers to see what makes them work, or how to program computers for their use in robotics, just to describe a few of the ten stations that gave the kids hands-on STEM-related lessons.

“The purpose of all of this is to expand young kids’ understanding of technology and its everyday use, along with some of the physics that go into it,” said IEEE Club President Rob Verdon, a senior Electrical and Computer Engineering major.

It’s an experience that Verdon says he was fortunate to have growing up, helping to foster his own interest in STEM subjects. However, he understands not every child has that opportunity–something that he and the IEEE Club wants to change.

“In elementary school, you don’t get a lot of hands-on experience. I was lucky. I got it through a lot of tinkering,” he says. “I want to make sure that students who don’t get that at home and in school have a way to get that same experience.”