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Growing up, Megan Fernandes saw first-hand the importance of being hands on. From small repairs to major renovations and even electrical work, she watched closely as her industrious parents studied, learned and then fixed things themselves. "It was always really exciting to me to be able to think through a problem, to come up with a solution, and then actually carry it out yourself. I found it was a very, very rewarding process,” the senior project manager at Hatch Consulting says.
But in grade school, she found the importance of applied science — engineering, specifically
— to be nearly non-existent. “People think of science more as medicine, chemistry, biology, and those types of roles,” Fernandes explains. “But applied science is a little bit harder to wrap your head around, and I think some of that
is because education, especially for younger children, is really lacking.”
Fernandes acknowledges that with the increase in STEM programs, schools have made progress since she was a child. But she says
the industry must take steps toward engaging students as well, to reach the future problem solvers of today. And waiting until they’re about
to graduate to hold a single-day, engineering open house is too late.
Clubs like FIRST Robotics (which Hatch sponsors) run engaging programs that start
in kindergarten. Western Mechatronics is an entirely youth-run, not-for-profit that holds international engineering competitions like Mecha Mayhem, and APEGA has clinics, science fairs and science Olympics for K-12 students. For all its faults, Fernandes also finds value in videos on YouTube, like the kind from former NASA scientist Mark Rober that went viral (google “NASA squirrel obstacle course” for a family-friendly treat).
But there’s nothing quite like individual engineers entering classrooms and answering students’ questions face to face. “It’s really
fun being there, because at that age, they're unapologetically curious, they ask questions, they're honest, and they're not generally shy,” Fernandes says. “And if we don’t go into the classrooms, then we're missing out on an opportunity to get these kids excited about this thing they may know nothing about. We have to get that excitement going, starting as young
as possible.” AI
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