Ted Kulongoski, Governor of Oregon
National Engineers Month 2010 Results
Engineers Inspire Students
Engineers and technicians from 31 Oregon and SW Washington companies visited hundreds of K-12 classrooms in February. Their mission—to motivate students to excel in math and science while building awareness and excitement for the world of careers available to them in engineering.
| Total Students | 23,850 |
| Total Volunteers | 350 |
| Total Classrooms | 870 |
| Total Schools | 220 |
| Total Districts | 73 |
| Total Counties | 24 |
When students engage with practicing engineers, they connect the dots between what they are studying and how it is applied in the real world. They gain a new perspective of the many interesting and creative jobs that engineers do to make our lives better, and many get inspired to pursue a technical career.
Future American competitiveness is highly dependent on producing a skilled workforce with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. Governor Kulongoski cited the NEM program as key to addressing Oregon’s future workforce needs, proclaiming February as National Engineers Month.
NEM participants are passionate about the value of the program. In response to our NEM 2010 survey, 96% of volunteers said their participation was worthwhile and 90% of teachers believed their students were positively impacted by the visit.
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It is great to see all their minds churning thinking about what their future could be. One student on the thank you card wrote, “I wish I had your job.” |
Seeing and hearing a role model communicate that “engineering is something they can do” was POWERFUL. |
NEM 2010 marks the 16th year that the Business Education Compact (BEC) has orchestrated the statewide initiative. Engineer volunteers have visited nearly 300,000 students since the program began in 1995.
Refer to the NEM 2010 Final Report for additional details.