UT professor David Beams (right) demonstrates correct soldering technique to students Olivia Opella (middle) and Joelliane Langevine (left), during UT Tyler's Science / Engineering Camp for high school students, held in the Ratliff Science Center, on UT Tyler campus. (Lang White / Correspondent)

The fields of civil and mechanical engineering came alive for Travis Lestig, 13, of Palestine, as he learned about building a bridge during The University of Texas at Tyler engineering summer camp program for eighth- through 10th-graders.

He used software to test the bridge with a truck to see if it met structural needs.

“I learned about different parts of bridges and I learned about the different types of energy and how they work and how to use energy in daily life,” Lestig said.

He has been considering becoming an engineer or a veterinarian when he grows up, but lately has been leaning toward engineering because of the camp.

Lestig is one of 25 campers, mostly from the Tyler area and some from Palestine, Longview, Mineola and as far away as Abilene.

The camp is sponsored by the UT Tyler College of Engineering and funded with money channeled through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that was allocated by the state legislature for recruiting students into studying for careers in engineering. The Tyler camp is one of 26 across the state for middle and high school students.

The purpose of the camp is to introduce campers to engineering concepts and principles and to build excitement for engineering, Michael McGinnis, interim dean of engineering in the UT Tyler College of Engineering, said. It gives them some experience with the fundamental science and technology of what engineers do.

The camp provides students an early opportunity to explore engineering as a potential career and helps prepare them for the academic rigors of engineering course work, according to information from the coordinating board.

There is concern that insufficient numbers of young people are going into engineering, said Jennifer Scott, engineering recruiter adviser for the UT Tyler College of Engineering and camp co-leader.

The state is trying to encourage students, she added, to consider careers in engineering and catch them when they are in middle or high school – in time to focus their education on math and science to prepare for study in the fields of science, engineering, technology or mathematics.

In conducting the camp, Scott said, UT Tyler is “trying to interest students who might not automatically think of themselves as engineers. There’s a lot of students who are capable of being engineers, but they need a little encouragement to think about engineering as a career opportunity.”

The theme of this year’s camp is “Marine Minds: Set Sail with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).”It is centered on water activities, and each day of the camp focused on a different area of engineering.

Campers were divided into groups of four or five each.

Bridge design and working with a software program on building bridges for stability was the focus of a day devoted to civil engineering. Students learned to take flow rates and built water filters and tested them, Peggy Craft, camp coordinator, said.

“I really liked that; it was interesting,” Joelliane Langevine, 13, of Houston, said. Pointing out that there were only four girls attending, she said she realized during the camp that “girls can do the same things in engineering as the boys.”

She is considering a career in the culinary field of engineering, such as food packaging.

In mechanical engineering, campers learned about the different renewable resources and about conserving energy and changing energy from one source to another, Craft said. Each team built a model boat and tested it in a fountain on campus.

“Campers learned the different components of electrical engineering and how that fits together and what a career in electrical engineering would look like,” Craft said. They also built two circuit boards and sirens and lights to add to their boat, learning how to solder and create electrical currents for their boats.

The camp causes students to use some physical skills and some knowledge-based things as well, McGinnis said.

“In some ways that’s the hallmark of an engineer … how do we take scientific principles and use them for something. The camp does a nice job of doing something physical and using our mind at the same time,” he said.

The camp is a good mix of hands-on activities and academics and promotes team building, Craft said.

The campers even went to Splash Kingdom in Canton for a tour of the different engineering aspects of making the water park run. They got a behind-the-scenes look at the pumps, electronics, mechanics and slide structures and how energy is moved around. They got to play in the water park, too.

On the last day of the camp, the youngsters made presentations to their parents and peers about what they had learned, discussed how to prepare for college and launched their boats in Harvey Lake on the UT Tyler campus.

Using a kit, the campers made the approximately 18-inch-long paddle rowboats from plastic with some electrical wiring. The boats run on a AA battery and have a 9-volt battery to make the circuits run. The students had to work on weight distribution to make sure the boats would not sink.

UT Tyler engineering faculty as well as graduate and undergraduate engineering students worked with the campers. The professors planned activities that kept them engaged, and interacted with the campers, encouraging them, Craft said.

“I like that we are getting to talk with the professors and they show why they like to be in civil engineering, why they like to be in mechanical engineering and why they like to be in electrical engineering,” Aspin Wyatt, 15, of Coleman near Abilene, said.

Wyatt said he learned that if you are going to be an engineer, it’s better to get the basics in mechanical engineering and then go deeper into other areas of interest, such as aerospace mechanical engineering. But he said he has not decided on a career.

The summer camp program was started in 2008 and has evolved since then. Some campers have gone on to graduate with degrees in engineering and computer science from UT Tyler.

“One of the objectives of the coordinating board is to encourage students who might not consider going to college to go to college once they have an on-campus experience to see what campus life is like,” Scott said.

Twitter: @Betty_TMT