IDEAS TO REALITY SUMMER CAMP: HOW ENGINEERING CAN CHANGE YOUR LIVES!

Robot racing, body scanning and company tours are just a few activities Edinburg High School students participated in during the “Ideas to Reality: How Engineering Can Change Your Lives” summer camp, held at The University of Texas-Pan American June 14-16.

The summer camp pilot program is a collaborative effort of the Edinburg schools’ CATE (Career & Technology Education), TMAC and UTPA Engineering Department.

“This is our pilot project and we’re very excited,” said Henry Oh, director of TMAC. “We have put this together with our experience with private industries and hopefully the kids will learn what the necessary skills are to pursue their ideal careers.”

UTPA’s TMAC summer Camp gave 20 teens five days of hands-on activities and an introduction to how Engineering can change lives... including theirs.  It started with team building exercises including rock wall climbing. Presentations and exercises at the Rapid Response Manufacturing Center were followed by a tour of the Manufacturing Lab in the College of Engineering. 

On Robotics Day, each camper constructed a light-activated microbug, la cucaracha, from a kit.  Student Roy Guerra had made robots at home from scraps of toys after his father taught him how to solder. “It's about putting the right parts together. If you put something in the wrong place, it won’t move,” he says with the voice of experience. Guerra had more experience than most of the students. “And some of the teachers,” laughed Andres Sanchez, Edinburg HS math teacher.” I’m learning to read instructions. I’ve never soldered before.”

Javier Palacios, a 2010 graduate of Johnny Economdes HS said, “It was pretty simple, but the little wires are really fragile.”

  “For us at ECISD, it is our goal to get our students college ready and this camp gives them the college experience,” said Griselda Quintanilla, CATE coordinator for ECISD. “This program increases their knowledge and reinforces their confidence, self-esteem and their choice to seek post secondary education.”

 “We’re seeing how by team work we can get kids exposed to so much—Rapid Response, Lean, and manufacturers,” said CATE counselor Kappie Mejia. “Some of these kids want to become engineers. This summer camp lets them know we have a wonderful university program right in their backyard. I’m amazed at what they have here now. This has been a real eye-opener.”

 After debugging the micro bugs, the students raced the little crawlers on curved and straight courses with barriers and tunnels. The bug’s light sensors track flashlight beams.

 Eduardo Hinojosa, ECISD technology program welding teacher and one of eight teachers and counselors in attendance, said the camp did a great job at allowing students to engage in numerous activities that exposed them to engineering.

“This program will give them a good sense of direction,” Hinojosa said. “This will help students dedicate more of their time to classes because they have a more direct focus on their goals so that they can continue.”

Hinojosa and Quintanilla are impressed with what the University offers and appreciate that their students were given the chance to experience its resources and opportunities and are now more aware of what UTPA has in store for them.

Edinburg North High School graduate, Lauren Guerra, was one of three girls participating in the camp. She said it was shocking to see that the majority of participants were males, but liked that the camp allowed them to come up with unique ideas, try new things and just be themselves.

“Coming to this camp has opened my mind to more possibilities,” Guerra said. “This will give me the strength to pursue my interest in engineering and possibly change the way the world looks at things.”

Guerra will be attending Texas A&M University-College Station in the fall to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering-Visualization.

Following a day of Lean simulations, the final day of camp took the students to Hi-Tech Plastics in Mission and Temple-Inland in Edinburg. Randy Phares, Temple-Inland general manager, gave a motivational presentation. He noted that 20 years he had started as an hourly worker running a machine. Prior to the tour of the corrugated box plant, Phares encouraged the kids to choose exciting, challenging, rewarding goals. “Even if you come up short, you’re better off. You’re learning. You are the future.”   Phares shared his own goal:  “to make this company better every day.”   

With an increase in demand for highly skilled manufacturing specialists and manufacturing and technology being a driving force of economic growth in Texas, TMAC is aware that it is crucial to expose the youth of the Rio Grande Valley to opportunities that will allow them to work toward education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) that will prepare them for sophisticated manufacturing skills that require higher education and more training.

“We appreciate The University of Texas-Pan American opening their doors to ECISD. It reinforces the ties between the University and the community,” Quintanilla said. “We look forward to continue working with UTPA and hopefully get students ready to commit to an engineering program.”

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Pictured: Griselda Quintanilla, CTE Coordinator; Dr. Miguel Gonzalez, UTPA Associate Dean for College of Engineering; Henry Oh, TMAC Regional Director; Al Beck, Rapid Response Mftg Center;  Edinburg CISD Counselors, teachers and students.