STEM summer camp visits Plant Watson
Mississippi Power employee volunteers were at their best when they hosted opening day of the recent week-long STEM camp at the Marsha Barbour Community Center in Pass Christian.
Attended by 11-14 year olds, the EXPLORE THE B.E.S.T. (bold, enthusiastic, smart, talented) YOU, STEM SUMMER CAMP for GIRLS started with a safety briefing and didn’t look back.
Female engineers from across the company led the iCan! Girls in Engineering session, directed the engineering stations and spoke about the different fields of engineering.
“This discussion always sparks comments and questions from the participants about the work done by the different types of engineers,” said Miranda Lee, engineer, Coast Division.
“We divided the girls into teams for activities at the engineering stations where they get to experience first-hand how engineering is involved in many common household items,” she said. “They always learn engineering is used in ways they never considered; for instance, the FastPass at Walt Disney World was developed by industrial engineers.”
At the shoe engineering station, teams used industrial engineering to design and build a flat sandal, while another team used civil engineering to prevent their high-heeled shoe from collapsing under the weight it would have to support.
“Chemical engineering was used at the cosmetics station, where lip balm, bath salts and bath bombs were created,” said Yaneira Lara, engineer, Pine Belt Division.
Industrial engineering was also used at the K’NEX car challenge as each team had a 10-minute build session where they designed and built as many cars as possible. A strategy discussion followed and the teams naturally developed an assembly line.
During a second 10-minute build session, one team was observed to improve their productivity 100 percent, by completing three cars.
The girls who attended were equally attentive and enthusiastic throughout the day, and enjoyed the interactive Dress for Success workshop presented by members of AABE, the American Association of Blacks in Energy.
Account Executive Danielle Kimbrough of Public Relations and Communications and Energy Efficiency Education Representative Tamara Proctor of Marketing Services facilitated the workshop.
Kimbrough stressed the importance of making a good first impression and that it takes 20 encounters to overcome a bad first impression.
“How many opportunities do you think you’ll have to meet someone 21 times?” asked Kimbrough. “Dressing appropriately for the occasion, be it the gym, a date, work or church is critically important.”
Lolita Moore, Finance; Keena Hadley, Fuels; Shelly Lambert, Finance and Tomeka Durr-Wiley, Economic Development, served as models for the what to wear/what not to wear portion of the workshop.
Participants expressed their opinions as to what made an outfit appropriate or not and had an opportunity to put together outfits based on provided scenarios.
“Feedback from the attendees at the end of the day was positive as they expressed feeling encouraged, inspired and even more interested in engineering as a career,” said Economic Development Specialist Jennifer Busby who facilitated the day’s events.
Along with Mississippi Power, other partners of the camp were Chemours, Ingalls Shipbuilding, Lockett Williams Mortuary, and state Representative Sonya Williams-Barnes.
Activities for the week included visits to Chemours and Ingalls Shipbuilding, a tour of Plant Watson and an etiquette class.
Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 187,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our website at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.
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