Middle school girls get engineering lesson

Area middle school girls will see what it takes to become an engineer at the Science, Technology and Engineering Preview Summer Day Camp (STEPS) at Grand Valley. Girls from all over West Michigan will make and fly radio-controlled electric airplanes. The planes will fly with the latest lithium-ion-battery technology in electric radio-controlled flight.

Throughout the week-long camp, girls will be introduced to computer-aided design (CAD), CNC milling, and visit Alcoa Howmet in Whitehall, Mich., to participate in plant tours and view laboratory operations. Campers will also learn about the aerodynamics of flight in classes and as they take a flight in a small airplane at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport.  

STEPS camps will be held June 21-24 and June 28-July 1 in the Kennedy Hall of Engineering at Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

MEDIA NOTE: Campers will fly their airplanes at the Warped Wings Fly Field
located at the corner of Alger and 56th Avenue in Allendale. The Alcoa Howmet-Whitehall Operations/Alcoa Foundation 2010 Fly Nights are scheduled for June 24 and July 1, from 6-8:30 p.m.

This is the 9th year Grand Valley has hosted the program; about 630 7th grade girls have participated to date. The camp is sponsored by the Esther and Seymour Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, the Padnos School of Engineering, and the Regional Math and Science Center at Grand Valley. Other major sponsors are the Alcoa Foundation, Alcoa Howmet-Whitehall Operations and the Michigan Space Grant Consortium, (NASA). Additional support is provided by the Warped Wings Fly Club and the West Michigan Soaring Society.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.gvsu.edu/steps or contact Margo Dill at (616) 331-2267 or Sara Maas at (616) 331-6025.