Engineers Week, or E-Week, is a week-long celebration every February, dedicated to showcasing the influential work of engineers and how much of a difference they make in our world, as well as helping to boost awareness of our growing need for future engineers and other professionals in the AEC industry.

The yearly observance of E-Week provides essential opportunities to promote the importance of pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics which we all know are not the typical favorite subjects for the majority of students.

Incorporating STEM activities outside the four walls of a classroom helps bring subjects to life, showing students the exciting side of STEM by providing hands-on, fun experiences that aren’t always presented as they should be through a textbook is one way we are able to inspire future generations to pursue a STEM-related career path.

This was the exact goal some of our WGI Tampa team members had in mind when they welcomed a group of middle school students from Grant Park Christian Academy to the office for a STEM Scavenger Hunt to kick off the beginning of E-Week!

Each department hosted a STEM activity that best represented their career at different stations to engage the students.

Activities ranged from assembling a structure with toothpicks and candy with our Buildings team, constructing race cars with sails with our Transportation team, and learning how to locate and measure underground utilities with our Geospatial team.

“I think events like this, and mentoring in general, really help show the younger generations what our profession is all about. This is important because for many people that are not in our industry, building construction and engineering is seen as either hard, not fun, or not interesting enough. We really like to show these kids all the technology and cool modeling software we use, as well as the interesting projects we design, in order to present the field in a way that is interesting and fun for them.” – Daniel Diaz, Structural Project Manager

The students got up close and personal with one of our drones to observe what the drone actually sees when it’s in operation, learned about the many instances where applying the use of drones can be beneficial and more cost-effective, and to get an overview on how to operate one.

“I really enjoyed demoing the drones and showing them which ones are used for recreation that you can buy or build yourself, and which ones are used for commercial purposes. I urged the students to find something that interests them and run with it; that a good job is something you are passionate about and not necessarily the one that pays the most.” – Blake Wallace, Data Engineer

After the kids visited all of the stations and completed their scavenger hunt cards, they were rewarded with a pizza party and a goodie bag full of cool WGI swag!

At WGI, we strongly believe in providing mentoring opportunities for students to help garner interest for STEM-related careers. We truly embody our core value to “be the change you seek”, by helping to ensure growth and diversity in engineering for future generations to come.

Be The Change You Seek!

Are you looking for more meaning and depth in your current career? Interested in helping inspire and mentor future generations? Then check out our careers page to see what new opportunities await you here at WGI!