High School Students Get Hands-On at Summer Engineering Academy

Honolulu CC holds six-week experience in partnership with P-20

Honolulu Community College
Contact:
Billie K T Lueder, (808) 845-9187
Communications & External Affairs, Chancellor's Office
Posted: Jul 30, 2013

2013 Summer Engineering Academy students.
2013 Summer Engineering Academy students.

(Honolulu) - Sixty aspiring engineers showcased their skills as a part of the Summer Engineering Academy at Honolulu Community College. The visual events included a demonstration of their self-constructed drumming robots, launching of carbon fiber rockets, and 3-D printer replicas.

"We are excited to provide high school students with this unique summer learning opportunity at Honolulu Community College," says Karen Lee, Executive Director, Hawaiʻi P-20 Partnerships for Education. "We are supportive of STEM initiatives that help students explore their science and math interests while exposing them to life on a college campus.  Both of these components are essential to their knowledge of what it means to be college- and career-ready."

Students range from sophomores to seniors, representing schools such as:  ʻAiea, Campbell, Castle, Damien, Farrington, Hilo, ʻIolani, Kahuku, Kaimuki, Kaiser, Kalaheo, Kalani, Kamehameha, Kapolei, McKinley, Mililani, Moanalua, Radford, Roosevelt, Scared Hearts Academy, Waiʻanae and Waipahu.

The program is designed to teach applied engineering skills that include mechatronics; a multidisciplinary field of engineering that integrates various areas to optimize a product’s functionality. 

During the six-week program, students visited the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Engineering, Kiewit Building Group, and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Engineering department. Through these experiences many of the participants have been able to pinpoint the area of concentration they wish to pursue in the engineering field. 

In addition, a section on college readiness gave students tips and guidance as they prepare for successful entry into college.

“The primary goal of the program is to give these students the opportunity for career exploration,” shares Norman Takeya, Honolulu CC Assistant Professor and Summer Engineering Academy coordinator. 

The Summer Engineering Academy is funded by the College Access Challenge Grant, which is managed by Hawaiʻi P-20 Partnerships for Education, Carl D. Perkins funding for Career and Technical Education programs, Fujio Matsuda Technology Training and Education Center, NASA Space Grant Hawaiʻi Consortium, and Construction Management Association of America Hawaiʻi Chapter.

View the photo gallery on Flicker here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjH6kqCa

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HONOLULU COMMUNITY COLLEGE

For more than 90 years, Honolulu Community College has been serving the community as a comprehensive community college in the heart of Honolulu meeting the post-secondary educational needs of individuals, businesses, and the community offering 49 degree and certificate programs. Since 1970, the college has been continuously and fully accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges. For more information, visit http://honolulu.hawaii.edu

 

Hawai‘i P-20 Partnerships for Education, a statewide partnership led by the Executive Office on Early Learning, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education and the University of Hawai‘i System, works to strengthen the education pipeline from early childhood through higher education so that all students achieve college and career success. Hawai‘i P-20’s partners share a sense of urgency about the need to improve Hawai‘i’s educational outcomes in an increasingly global economy, and have established a goal of 55% of Hawai‘i’s working age adults having a 2- or 4-year college degree by 2025. For more information, visit http://www.p20hawaii.org.