UNBC

“Go Eng Girl” provides exposure to engineering for young women

Oct 20, 2019 | 2:46 PM

There are many options for kids nowadays of what they can do for a future career, and over the weekend UNBC shined a light on one line of work which is lacking in females across the country.

All around Prince George you will see women in all different lines of work. However, one field which doesn’t see a high amount of females in engineering.

“Typically our percentage of girls in engineering is 14%,” shared UNBC Senior Lab Instructor Natalie Linklater.

As a result, UNBC along with many other schools across the country have started the “Go Eng Girl” event. A free open house for girls from Grade 7 to 10 to learn about the field of engineering from other women working in the field and also get the chance to take part in some hands-on activities including a zip line challenge.

“They have to get a little rubber duck from the top of the zip line to the bottom of the zip line in just 10 seconds with all of the items provided. The challenge comes with the preciseness. The 10 seconds. We deal with structures that need to be built with certain codes or train schedules, for example, which have very specific requirements.”

UNBC has an Environmental Engineering program joint with UBC, which has been going on for 10 years. However, this year the full civil and environmental engineering program was launched and moving forward they are hopeful more girls decide to work towards getting into the field.

“If you look at studies the numbers show that girls are just as good at math and science as boys are. They make great engineers,” stated Linklater.

The good news for students who may have missed the presentation over the weekend, UNBC will be holding it’s annual Discover Day this Saturday for potential future students to learn all about their programs.

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