INDIANAPOLIS — The Walker Career Center (WCC) is dedicated to empowering young ladies to consider entering non-traditional careers. Engineering is an example of a non-traditional career, as females comprise only 12 percent of working engineer professionals. The WCC’s award winning Project Lead the Way Engineering program has 9th grade females scheduled together in the Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) course. Dr. Steve Rogers, WCC’s Engineering & Technology Education (ETE) Department Chair stated, “We put them together because that’s what our data told us was best for student success.” By scheduling the young ladies together, the goal is to improve the female retention rate and grow the WCC engineering program.
For several years WCC has offered a week long Girls in Engineering Camp during spring break coupled with a Women in Engineering Breakfast that offers 60 8th grade MSD Warren Township students an opportunity to meet and discuss the profession with female engineers.
