National Engineers Week

Partners in Education Promotes National Engineers Week

National Engineers Week is Feb. 15-21 2009, and we’re celebrating locally.

Partners in Education, a program of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, works with area school districts to promote engineering careers through career exploration programming like Project Lead the Way and CAD Academy. Both are national programs with middle & high school curriculum to help schools give students the knowledge they need to excel in high-tech fields and to help them explore engineering careers.

Studies of these programs have proven that involved students become the kind of prepared, competent, high-tech employees U.S. industry needs to stay competitive in the global market. This success along with the need for engineers in our community, the Engineering Advisory Board is promoting the career through National Engineering

Week and hosting some local activities:

Thursday, Feb. 19, 5 p.m. -7 p.m., NWTC Manufacturing Technology Center, Room MT104 – Open house to highlight the fabulous careers available in engineering and showcase NWTC engineering-related programs. Open to students, parents, and community members. Contact Pam Mazur, Trades & Technical Dean, NWTC, 498-6317.

Classroom speakers/presentations at area high schools.

Engineering statistics worth noting:
Next to teaching, engineering has the largest number of professional practitioners, and electrical engineering encompasses the largest number of engineers. (Source: The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Inc.)

The median first-year salary for graduating engineering students, as of Jan. 1, 2002, was $47,000. The highest paying branch of engineering for experienced professionals was in petroleum engineering, with an annual median at $114,600. (Source: National Society of Professional Engineers)

National Engineers Week always coincides with George Washington’s birthday. Washington’s surveying skills led to his title as first U.S. engineer. On June 9, 1778, at Valley Forge, General George Washington issued an order calling for engineers and engineering education. (Source: American Society of Mechanical Engineers)

For more details about engineering career information, career programming including Project Lead the Way at Pulaski, De Pere, Green Bay, and Ashwaubenon high schools and CAD Academy at Bay Port, or the above activities, contact Nancy Schopf, Partners in Education, Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, 593-3413.