by Matt Gomez
Daily Lobo
Fifty female high school students from Rio Rancho spent Wednesday shadowing UNM engineering students.
Women in Science and Engineering, an organization that works to attract women to fields of science, engineering and mathematics, held its third Shadow a Wise Student Day.
The high school students, all from the Rio Rancho High School Engineering and Design Academy, followed 27 engineering students to their classes and got some one-on-one time with them.
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Deborah Chavez-Kennedy, WISE coordinator, organized the event with the hopes of exposing girls to science and engineering fields, she said.
"Traditionally young girls do not realize their skills in math and science and so we're trying to expose them to other females here at UNM that will tell them and show them what they've accomplished," Chavez-Kennedy said.
Since the shadow program started last year, she said, they have seen an increase in female applicants from Rio Rancho High School. Before the program, they had no applicants. This year, they had three apply, she said.
WISE recruits from Rio Rancho High School because of its engineering academy and because of the school's eagerness to participate in events like shadow day.
Paul Stephenson, head of the Rio Rancho Engineering and Design Academy, said the partnership between their program and the WISE program has been great.
"We feel like we're a great pipeline for institutions like UNM," he said. "This is an opportunity to shed some of the light on what engineering is and what it can be."
Michelle Patron, a junior studying mechanical engineering, was one shadow participant.
She was hoping students participating in the shadow would be interested in engineering and would apply at UNM.
"The ratio for women to men in engineering is really low," Patron said. "UNM actually does have a really good ratio compared to other universities, but it would be awesome if we could increase it."
Chavez-Kennedy also said the ratio of male and female engineering students at UNM is low.
There are 237 female undergraduate and graduate engineering students at UNM, according to statistics from Chavez-Kennedy. The latest UNM statistics show there are 1,647 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in engineering.
She said part of the problem is getting females interested in engineering, because many sway toward science fields.
"They tend to go more into biology because they think it's a better way to help people," she said.
Half of the students who attended the event were interested in medicine, she said.
Speakers throughout the day encouraged the students to broaden their horizons.
"We want them to know they can incorporate the medical field with engineering," she said.
Although Patron is a mechanical engineering student, it was not always the field she wanted to pursue, she said.
"I've always been interested in aviation, and I wanted to be a pilot, but that didn't work out," she said. "So I figured if I can't fly a plane, I'll design it."
Antoinette Cuaderes, 17, said she was pretty sure what academic field she wants to pursue.
"I'm of course applying to UNM," said the senior from Rio Rancho. "I'm going to be declaring civil engineering as my major. UNM is looking very good because it does have such an excellent program."
Cuaderes said one of her teachers told her about the shadowing event and encouraged her to attend.
"It's been kind of reassuring to let me know that it's not as hard as I think it is," she said. "Once I get started, as long as I stay focused and am able to complete all my courses, then I'll be able to accomplish it."
Hosanna Gutierrez, a 15-year-old sophomore from Rio Rancho, said she has a career path all planned out.
"I want to be an industrial architect," she said. "We haven't really gotten to see any of the architecture stuff yet, but we've learned about the different programs we can take so it's nice to see the school just to know where I can go for different programs."
