EDUCATION CAMP OFFERS STUDENTS EXPERIENCE, INSIGHT ON CAREER FIELD BY PAULA BURKES Published: April 5, 2009 NEWSOK.COM 
Stephanie Andrade, 17, of Westmoore High School, left, and Cheyenne Arthurs, 16, of Locust Grove High School try a diversity test with liquids March 27 on the OU campus. Photo by JACONNA AGUIRRE, THE OKLAHOMAN Stephanie Andrade was 6 when her parents emigrated from Ecuador. English was foreign to her. But the numbers were the same. Andrade thinks that’s why she’s excelled in math and now aspires to a career in aerospace engineering. Locust Grove High School students pick up literature about the University of Oklahoma’s petroleum engineering school March 27 at a College of Engineering job fair in the Oklahoma Memorial Union on the OU campus. The junior from Westmoore High School joined 50 other students statewide for the Society of Women Engineers High School Girls’ Day on March 27 at the University of Oklahoma, and she hopes to return to campus for the OU College of Engineering girls’ engineering camp June 21-27. Attendees learn about the various engineering disciplines and participate in hands-on exercises. Olivia McKennon said she found the day inspiring. "It was nice being able to talk with other females interested in engineering,” said McKennon, a sophomore at Carl Albert High School where she’s in honors trigonometry. Low representation Though women comprise 56 percent of college undergraduates and 46 percent of the work force, they account for fewer than 20 percent of engineering graduates and only 9 percent of practicing engineers, studies show. Getting those numbers up is crucial to fill a serious shortage of engineers, said Thomas Landers, engineering dean. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission forecasts 500 new engineering job openings per year in Oklahoma through 2014. "Our nation faces many challenges that require solutions dependent on technology,” Landers said. "To assure our future security and prosperity, we must mobilize all of our very best talent, including fully engaging women and under-represented minorities in our workforce.” To help meet the needs, OU began hosting the girls’ day 10 years ago and last year launched the camp for girls entering the 10th through 12th grades. Sponsored by British Petroleum, the camp costs $250, including room and board. Enrollment is limited to 25, with strong consideration given to black, Latino and American Indian students, and those who are the first in their families to attend college. A summer internship at Ashland Oil when she was 17 helped lead Angie Fenton to major in engineering. "I found the chemical processes that occurred at the refinery fascinating,” said Fenton, 36, and an operations engineer for Devon Energy Corp. Her stepfather encouraged her to pursue engineering after noticing Fenton’s love for disassembling and assembling things when she was 15. Anne Copeland, an aerospace engineer at Tinker Air Force Base, became interested in the field about the same age. "I knew I wanted to do something big, and was considering law, medicine and engineering,” Copeland, 50, said. "In 12th grade, I decided on engineering, reasoning that it was the best-paying profession for a four-year degree. Now, is that the logical thinking of an engineer or what?” Finding inspiration An environmental engineer for Enercon, Laura London said she’s ob-served most engineers are inspired to go into the field by other engineers. For London, it was her father, Baxter Vieux, who teaches civil engineering at OU. London, 26, is working to charter an Oklahoma City section of the Society of Women Engineers. "We hope to provide inspiration to each other through peer networking at meetings, as well as to young women about careers in math and science.” Female engineers face many common and unique challenges, London said. Those include balancing their family and work life and to successfully use their innate female strengths of nurturing and collaboration to work in a male-dominated field.
