New Mexico Tech (NMT), the University of New Mexico (UNM), and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will each be accepting a number of dedicated high school students to help them gain experience in engineering problem solving with the help of a mentor (mainly undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at these three universities). This summer NMT will be accepting 16 high school students that will be working on paid projects with Dr. O’Malley from the Mechanical Engineering department.

This program is targeted towards students who wouldn’t usually get the best resources in education or day-to-day life. According to the AFRL website, “The ideal apprentice shows creative thinking & motivation but may not have access to opportunities to explore STEM content & careers” (read more at STREAM homepage. The goal of the program is to inspire students to enjoy learning and creating with STEM.

New Mexico Tech participated in this program last summer, however, everything was held online. Students would meet with their groups and their mentors over the internet, making it slightly more difficult to discuss and execute ideas. Fortunately, this summer, the high school students will likely be able to come to campus for the extent of their six-week program. This means better communication among group members within each project as well as a more realistic college experience for the high school students participating.

This June and July, the students who come to NMT for the STREAM apprenticeship will have the opportunity to design and create autonomous robots that have the ability to navigate through mazes and accomplish various tasks. It is also hoped that students will have the opportunity to explore the NMT campus and learn more about careers in STEM.