Wayne Community College will host W-EDGE (Wayne-Educating Girls in Engineering), an evening engineering camp for female high school students with a service component, next week.
Twenty young women from area high schools will be introduced to the college’s Mechanical Engineering and Computer-Integrated Machining programs. The camp also has the purpose of increasing female enrollment into those programs at the college.
“The students will be introduced to a variety of topics that we cover in our programs by designing and building a special project,” said Steven Reese, a mechanical engineering technology instructor. The resulting projects will assist students at Edgewood Community Developmental School.
The camp will acquaint the young women with both the physical and digital sides of the field, including SolidWorks, AutoCAD, SpectraCAD Milling, computer numerical control (CNC), fasteners, tapping and threading, 3D-printing, and the engineering design process.
The camp will be held 6-7:30 p.m., Dec. 4-7.
An advance session was held at Edgewood at which the campers learned how the school meets the needs of the students and the families they serve. At a later date, the young women will help 20 of the Edgewood students assemble and operate the projects.
Instructors for the event will be Lyndsey Dean Rozzi, who is a graduate of WCC’s mechanical engineering program; Bailee Daniels, a WCC computer-integrated machining instructor; and Julie Heath, a Wayne School of Engineering drafting instructor. Two WSE students will be serving as interns during the camp.
The camp is being offered in partnership with the Goldsboro Mayor’s Youth Council and 14 of the campers are members of that group, according to Reese.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves 14,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 70 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves. For more information about Wayne Community College, go to https://waynecc.edu.