Female high school students learn about STEM during overnight stay

Building a hearing aid made Jenna Harris’ future a bit clearer.

Harris was among 36 grade 11 female students who had the chance to experience what engineers do during McMaster Engineering’s inaugural Eng Overnight Event on May 12.

The electrical engineering hearing aid workshop was part of a day packed with engineering education, career advice and campus life stories from undergraduate students.

“This workshop has been really cool. I always wanted to get into electronics and understand electrical engineering but I haven’t been able to try it myself,” said Harris, a student at Cawthra Park Secondary School in Mississauga. “Now that we’ve had this workshop I realize that I like [electrical engineering] so maybe I’ll try to teach myself some more.”

Eng Overnight was part of Science Odyssey, a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics happening across Canada from May 12 to 21, 2017.

“Mac has been my number one choice. As of now, I will probably end up here,” added Harris.

This is not the first McMaster Engineering youth program that Harris has participated in. She also attended a L.E.A.P. summer camp last year which fostered her interest in engineering.

For high school students who are unsure about the academic program they want to pursue, Harris shared some valuable advice: “Do your research and don’t be afraid to try things out because you might find something that you love.”