8th annual SHPE high school leadership conference a success
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) recently hosted twenty high schools students during their eighth annual high school leadership conference.
Students from William Penn High School, in York, Pa., spent their weekend in State College, experiencing various engineering activities and learning about college life. Students attended a series of workshops and tours, including a tour of the Factory for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) Laboratory in the Leonhard Building, given by Adriana Felix-Salgado and Maria Andrea Mendez, two SHPE IE students. Students also had the opportunity to observe multiple machines in action and make injection-molded key chains.
In addition to the tours, the students participated in the Extreme Engineering Challenge, an engineering project where they worked on a task, created a budget, and developed a marketing plan. The projects were presented and judged; Students were given prizes for presentation, functionality, and marketability.
SHPE is a national organization whose mission is to be the source for quality Hispanic engineers and technical talent. The Penn State chapter is one of the larger SHPE groups, consisting of 76 members. Aside from being a professional development organization, SHPE works with the community by being a part of THON, the Penn State Intrafraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, and hosting the annual high school leadership conference.