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DISCUSSION
GROUP
What's on your mind?
Packaging Horizons
Building For the Future--
Young Ladies Discover Packaging
--UW-Stout Chronicle
The packaging lab at UW-Stout had quite a different look recently. It was filled with enthusiastic, seventh-grade girls who discovered what it's like to be packaging engineers.
The girls participated in the Technology & Engineering Preview at UW-Stout (STEPS). During the four, week-long sessions a total of 160 girls had the opportunity to experience a variety of technically oriented activities including packaging, plastics processing, robotics, metal casting, product design and computer graphics.
The idea for STEPS developed when the Stout attempted to recruit female candidates for a position teaching in manufacturing engineering. They couldn't find any.
"In the 13 manufacturing engineering programs across the nation, there are only three women faculty members," said Pete Heimdahl, associate dean of the School of Engineering, Technology and Management. Further study showed that young girls tend to stay away from fields involving math and science because they don't believe they have the necessary ability.
UW-Stout saw an opportunity to make a difference. STEPS was a "hands-on, minds-on" program designed to instill confidence in these young women. In the packaging lab, the girls tested materials with the assistance of Kay Cooksey, associate professor of packaging. "It's so exciting to see these girls make the connection between the materials we are testing in the lab and the packaging they use everyday," said Cooksey. They also had the chance to design and produce a shrink wrapped package for their own "product," a pencil and notepad.
One of the highlights for the girls was the opportunity to use the lab's new Data Tech sample table to produce a corrugated container.
"At first the girls were a bit intimidated by the technology. However, it doesn't take long for their confidence levels to rise," Cooksey explained.
In the plastics lab they made thermoformed sailboats modeled after the all-female America's Cup team. They produced a newsletter in the graphic arts lab. Using assembly line skills, they manufactured radio-controlled model airplanes that were designed especially for this program by a UW-Stout class last spring. On one evening the girls trekked to the football field to fly their planes.
For the next six years, each of the girls will receive follow-up communications from UW-Stout. During their sophomore year in high school they will be mailed a questionnaire that will determine the role of STEPS in influencing their selection of math and science courses. As seniors, they will be contacted again to determine how STEPS influenced their career choices. The results will be compared against statistics for women enrolling in engineering programs as freshmen nation-wide.
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