APBP Women Cycling Project Co-founder and Alta Planning + Design engineer Fionnuala Quinn offers up a fascinating 15-minute case study about JEiTs — the Junior Engineer-in-Training program.
JEiTs is a hands-on, by invitation-only program within Hunters Wood Elementary School in Reston, Virginia, USA. Each year, JEiTs selects 20 5th and 6th grade girls.
Now in its fifth year, this popular program encourages girls to see themselves in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (the STEM fields). The girls design and build projects using low-cost or no-cost materials, welcome engineers from the community and take engaging field trips that help them recognize that engineering is integral to everyday life.
In 2013 for the first time, the JEiTs sent handmade Valentines to engineers in public agencies in the community. This winsome activity generated many enthusiastic responses, such as this one from Dave J. Kubicek, Deputy General Manager, Operations, WMATA: “Thank you so much for the kind words on Valentine’s Day. I am excited knowing that we have so many bright engineers on the horizon. Keep up the good work and remember Safety First!”
The JEiTs case study complements the 2013 APBP Women Cycling Webinar: Women’s Work: Bicycle-friendly Communities by Design.
