A laboratory at the Integrated Teaching and Learning facility was strewn in speaker wires and magnets Wednesday, with an unusually attentive group of high school juniors and seniors busily working to construct stereo speakers from scratch.

The students were brought to the University of Colorado from area high schools as part of the engineering college's Success Institute, a program intended to promote interest, particularly among females and minorities, in engineering.

"They're getting hands-on experience and exposure to careers in engineering and technology," explained Carol Rowe, a spokesperson in the engineering department.

The week-long program, now in its fifth year, has been successful, she said, pointing out that many students return throughout their high school years.

"We've had many returning students who find it to be a really fun week and something where they learn quite a bit," Rowe said.

While it's not intended to recruit students directly to CU, Rowe said it does result in attracting people to the university.

Dave Aragon, director of the University's Multicultural Engineering Program, which along with the ITL lab hosts the initiative, said seven of 14  of the participants in the project's first year will attend CU as freshmen fall semester.  Three more of those students are enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, he said.  Aragon explained that the program is beneficial to the MEP because it increases community contact and  familiarizes students with the university environment before their senior year.  

"What's exciting for the MEP is that this allows us to go deeper than recruiting kids from the 12th grade," he said.

"It's a good program," said Jayshen Bell, now in his fourth year participating in the program.  "It's something different every year."

This year's project, the construction of speakers, had students working with magnets and electronic components.  Aragon said planners have made an effort to include different projects every year so students gain new experiences.

"Our goal is to develop a repertoire of projects," he said.

He added that freshmen and sophomores also participate in a shorter version of the program in a variety of experiments and exercises such as a campus-wide scavenger hunt utilizing global positioning system equipment.

Several of the students were enthusiastic about the program.

"You find new people every year," Bell said.  But, he added, "it's sad to see some of those other people not come back."

Aliza Krinsky and Mercedes Jackson, both first-year participants, both said they had no strong desire to become engineers.  Despite having just met, the two answered for each other in saying that they intended to become journalists.  They said they enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and stay on campus.

Despite her intention to pursue a different career path, Krinsky said the instruction was interesting, particularly the speaker project.

"I never thought I'd be able to do it before," she said.

Catherine Flanders, one of the co-instructors in the lab, who spent much of her time navigating the maze of tables and speaker wires disseminating hints about cutting techniques and other facets of proper speaker construction, said the sense of accomplishment is one of the most rewarding parts of the workshop for her.

"That's really what we're trying to get them to see," she said.

Several current participants in MEP were participating in Wednesday's workshop.  They said such diversity-building initiatives played an important role in their university experiences.

"It was a good network and a good resource," said Aba Arthur-Asmah, who graduated this year from CU with an engineering degree.

Jimmie Morales, a current MEP participant, agreed.

"I think it helps incoming students feel comfortable with the engineering program," Morales said.

Aragon said that initiatives like the Success Institute and the MEP seem to be making a difference.  Nationally, he said, only a third of minority engineering students graduate.  At CU, he said, that graduation rate is 67 percent, making it seventh in the nation for retention of minorities.

He noted that the MEP, founded in 1973, has served as a model for other colleges at CU as well as other universities.

"We've really dedicated ourselves to retention efforts," he said.

Used with permission.

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