Westlake Students Get First Hand Look At Engineering Careers

WESTLAKE, OH — The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields have become a local and national focus for education programs. Recently, the Westlake High School Techmates Club, which is part of the Technology and Engineering Department, took part in the Engineering Activity Day at Cleveland State University, getting hands on experience in careers in STEM fields.

Students started the day the way everyone should: with a continental breakfast. The kids also heard a presentation from Gregg Schoof, manager of the Engineering Student Programs, on "What Engineers Do?"

Students were then taken to the site of the nearly completed engineering building. They were led around the site by one of the project managers from Gilbane Construction. The new building should be open before the end of 2017. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Westlake newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

Students were broken intro groups and took part in "Trash Sliders," an engineering activity that sees participants design "sliders" out of trash. Teams then race marbles down their slides, paying careful attention to who loses the least marbles.

College students majoring in engineering then took questions and discussed the day-to-day lives of average students in a university atmosphere.

Wrapping up the day, Westlake's TechMates were shown around Cleveland State by engineering majoring-students.

Photos from Westlake Schools