In April, Mott MacDonald employees participated in Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, an event sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS).
The event promotes civil engineering and the various associated transportation fields as rewarding careers for young women. High school girls in Raleigh and the surrounding communities have an opportunity to talk to female engineers and gain real insight into what it is like to be in the field of engineering.
During this event, the girls learned about the educational journeys, professional careers, and daily activities of various NCDOT female engineers and environmental planners. Participants completed an activity that challenged their engineering skills and designed a couple of highway interchange configurations.
The young women competed in the "Go the Distance" game to build camaraderie and team-building skills. Barbara Mulkey, a renowned female civil engineer, gave an inspirational story of her engineering education and career. The young women also benefited from brainstorming and networking with their NCDOT and WTS NC Triangle Chapter table mentors.
Mott MacDonald employees Paddy Jordan and Natasha Henderson took part in planning the event along with coordinating the design challenge and mentoring the young students. We were excited to inspire the next generation of female engineers.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day encouraged students to pursue skills necessary to enter STEM college curriculums. One sophomore said this year's event made her feel "so empowered." Check out this video about the event!