DEL VALLE, Texas - Dozens of Del Valle ISD middle school girls got some hands-on engineering experience when they visited electric carmaker Tesla and semiconductor manufacturer Infineon for Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day.
The groups met with engineers at the Tesla Gigafactory Texas and Infineon this week to learn all about what engineering is and how they can one day become engineers and leaders.
For many, it was their first time learning about engineering and seeing how it works up close, says the district.
At the Tesla Gigafactory, one group was led through three projects: creating a simple motor, a balloon-propelled car, and a bridge design project. At Infineon, another group learned about the semiconductor manufacturing process through small tasks and later toured the chip-making facilities.
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Women engineers with years of experience in the field also spoke to the groups, sharing their life stories of how they ended up in engineering.
Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day is marked at the end of February each year as part of Engineering Week, founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers. The day is an effort to introduce young girls to professions in STEM and help create a fair field in male-dominated STEM occupations, says Del Valle ISD.
DVISD says its Workforce Development Office organized the trip to show girls that if they decide to pursue engineering, they can get a head start in high school by picking a Career Technical Education program starting in the ninth grade.