On April 19, 2024, Nitsch Engineering hosted our 22nd annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day to help show 6th – 12th grade girls why engineering is a great career. This year, our team of volunteers built a program around the theme of Exploring Structural Engineering and Building Bridges; the event was hosted at Nutter’s office in the Seaport.
The day kicked off with an icebreaker activity in which the girls learned key bridge infrastructure terminology. Lisa Brothers, PE, ENV SP, LEED AP BD+C, President & CEO and Jennifer Johnson, PE, CFM, LEED AP, Executive Vice President welcomed the girls to the event and introduced the girls to the field of engineering, and Brooke DePascale, EIT, Senior Structural Designer shared her story about what she likes about working within the structural engineering field.
The girls then learned about how tension and compression forces impact the design and construction of bridges before splitting into groups to design and build their own bridges. Rachel Graham, Transportation Designer led the middle school girls in building truss bridges out of spaghetti, marshmallows, toothpicks, and gumdrops; while Kelsey Kern, EIT, LEED AP, Senior Water Resources Designer led the high school girls in building suspension bridges out of Legos and common household materials. Once done building their bridges, girls were encouraged to load them up to see how much weight they would support!
While the girls were designing their bridges, adult chaperones were taken to a separate room to hear about how to support interest in STEM activities and the college admissions process from an admissions counselor from Wentworth Institute of Technology.
The day wrapped up with a panel discussion, moderated by Paige Blanchard, PE, Senior Project Engineer, on being a woman in engineering. The panel included Marley Peterson, Project Designer, and Shannon Rainville, Civil Engineering Co-Op, from Nitsch Engineering; Annisha Borah, EIT, Assistant Transportation Engineer at the City of Boston; and Jennifer Flanders, PE, LEED AP BD+C, Principal Account Manager at National Grid.
In addition to those already named in this post, thank you to Madeline Augustine, Michelle Callahan, Annie Cornell, Brittney Ferber, Virginia Kilbourn, Charlie Lucchesi, Anna Luciano, and Kate Ovoian for all your work to make this day a success!