Thursday, November 20, 2014

ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR ENGINEERS?

It’s November – a traditional time of year for people to stop and think about what they are thankful for in their day to day lives.  Personally, I’m thankful for hot water and for the engineers who figured out how to create a water system that provides me with a constant supply of clean, potable water.   Have you ever thought of all the things that wouldn’t be part of your day today without Engineers?    Things like roads, clean water, bridges, Drainage to prevent flooding and so much more are all because we have Engineers to create, innovate and improve the infrastructure that makes modern society possible.

Water Filter Experiment [Click Here]
These improvements are only part of the reason we can be thankful for Engineers and why so many schools in America are looking at their STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math curriculum as a means to promote interest in these critical fields.  As our society grows in technology, it is becoming increasingly important for schools to foster critical thinking in students, increase their abilities in the STEM fields, and enable this generation to continue to create new and innovative solutions for our needs today, tomorrow and for years to come.    

As part of this effort, MeritCorp Employees spent two hours investing in the future of America at the Crone Middle School STEM night [11-19-14].   Crone Middle School, like many other schools in Illinois, invited working professionals from various businesses to show the students the real life application for STEM curriculum.   

Since Civil Engineering is a broad umbrella, we used a video from the American Society of Civil Engineers [ASCE] called  “What do Civil Engineers Do?” to help the students get a better understanding of the varied options available.   We then did a hands-on project where the students learned the basics of an industrial water filter.   This visual helped the students to see one real-life application of Civil Engineering Knowledge.


We hope that all of the students who came and participated in the STEM night went home with a renewed excitement and interest in the Science and Engineering Fields.  

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