Gearing up to host area high school students for 2018 National Engineers Week

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Students from all over the Middle Tennessee area will be teaming up with AEDC engineers at Arnold Air Force Base to experience work environments and participate in competitions during National Engineers Week, Feb. 18-24.

As part of Engineers Week, engineers from the Base and throughout the local region volunteer their time to assist with mentoring opportunities and activities geared toward engineering concepts.

To kick off a busy month of engineering activities for students, the annual MathCounts® competition will be Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. The competition is a local event where the winners were combined into a team that will compete at the state level and possibly at the national level. Students in seventh and eighth grades from Bedford, Coffee, Franklin and Lincoln counties compete in these events, which challenge mathletes to solve problems.

A Student Design Competition is Feb. 20 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Hands-On Science Center in Tullahoma for high school students in tenth through twelfth grades from seven counties. Teams consist of two people and prizes are awarded to the top three highest scoring teams.

Engineer for a Day is an all-day event, scheduled 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., Feb. 21 at Arnold AFB, which gives high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to tour the Complex and some of its facilities, as well as spend time with an engineer mentor in an area of their particular interest. Students are selected by their schools to participate in this event.

The final event of the week is the Engineers Week Banquet on Feb. 22 from 5:30 to 8 p.m., during which the students and mentors celebrate the accomplishments of engineers and students. The location of the banquet will be determined closer to time.

Local organizations, such as the Tullahoma Chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, the Highland Rim Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Tennessee section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, the Project Management Institute and the AEDC Science Technical Engineering and Math Program offer assistance with Engineers Week each year.

For more information about Engineers Week, call (931) 454-6542.