Humboldt State University Society of Women Engineers Student Section Anticipates the Expanding Your Horizons Conference

Humboldt State University will be hosting the biannual Expanding Your Horizons conference for young women on March 31, 2001. Expanding Your Horizons is a conference for 6th – 8th grade girls. The conference encourages the girls to consider careers that require math and science. The workshops provide fun and exciting, hands-on experience in the math and science fields.

Each girl chooses 2 of 15 workshop categories and will participate in 2 of over 50 available workshops. During lunch the participants will attend the science mall, where local professionals have informational booths on math and science related careers and more hands-on activities. Parents and teachers are encouraged to attend adult workshops that focus on strategies that will help girls to succeed in math and science fields. The workshops cover college preparation and other useful information.

Local women professionals and college students present over 50 workshops. For example, a veterinarian might speak about the challenges of working with animals. This coming year, a helicopter rescue pilot will be bringing her helicopter to show the girls.

The upcoming conference will mark the third generation of SWE officers and members involved with Expanding Your Horizons. This coming year, SWE will be facilitating three different workshops. One workshop will focus on river hydraulics, where the girls design, construct, and test their own flume inserts constructed of Styrofoam. Another workshop may involve the exploration of alternative energy through photovoltaic cells and solar ovens. In the final SWE workshop the participants will create their own circuits in order to power a light bulb.