Kent State’s Tuscarawas campus is holding its annual Engineering Technology Opportunity Expo in celebration of National Engineers Week on February 25. The expo invites students from community high schools and is free to the public.

The Expo will educate high school students with the necessary academic requirements that they should prepare for when seeking out jobs in numerous fields of engineering technology. Eight local industries will partake in the upcoming expo, as representatives from engineering, management, human resources, and personnel will be accessible during the expo to answer questions, talk about skill requirements and all of the occupation opportunities involved with engineering technologies.

Lorraine Bears, Interim Director of Engineering Technologies, has been with Kent State Tuscarawas for 17 years.

“It is important for awareness of the opportunities for all students in different areas of engineering” said Bears. There are many regions of engineering technologies, and this annual expo does a great job in trying to cover different aspects every year.

This year, four different competitions are going to be held for high school students. First, solid modeling and 3D Printing. With this, students are trained to use a solid- modeling program to design a logo for the Tuscarawas Leadership organization, and then printed off the 3-D printer. Next, is the Advanced solid- modeling and 3D Printing, which is more for the experienced students. The third part of this competition is digital logic. This entails students being taught principles in designing and creating a working circuit board. The last part of this competition involves students being taught Photoshop techniques, and then are challenged to design a poster within a given theme.

Bears says the goal of this event is promote National Engineers Week. “The night of the expo students are encouraged to bring his/her resume and talk to not only the industry engineers but their human resources representative,” said Bears.

High school students also have the chance to be a part of the Engineer For A Day program, where they get to spend a day at a host company. The program includes an introductory tour of the company’s facility, a chance to spend one on one time with an engineer and get involved with the bridge contest.

The bridge contest is competition between more than 100 high school students. The object of this contest is to see who can design, construct, and test the most efficient bridge within the given specifications.

“These model bridges are intended to be simplified versions of real-world bridges,” said Bears. The first and second place winners will be given the chance to participate in the international contest to be held in Chicago on May 7.

The Engineering Technology Opportunity Expo will be held on Feb 25 from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Student Union of Founders Hall.

Alyssa Ronyak is a regionals reporter.