Ozone Park students attend celebration of women in engineering

NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC)
NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC)

Students from High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Ozone Park attended Monday’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC)’s “Introduce a Girl to Architecture, Engineering and Construction” Day in Long Island City.

The daylong program was designed to spark interests in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, architecture, math) fields among women. According to the National Science Foundation, women make up only 34 percent of workers in those fields.

“These young women will be the inventors and entrepreneurs of the future,” said DDC Commissioner Feniosky Pena-Mora. “Our goal is to expose them to the world of the built environment and the tools and framework to not only understands how things work, but also how best to make them work to the benefit of our society.”

The students learned to use an architect’s scale to create blueprints, translated blueprints to models and constructed scale models of theBrooklyn Bridge and One World Trade Center. They also observed the interior designs of public buildings in the city.

The 20 participants also listened to a panel of four women who hold positions in architecture and engineering. Lee Llambelis, DDC’s deputy commissioner for community partnerships and STEAM initiatives, said educating girls in those professions will put them on a path to success.

“STEAM careers are the jobs of the future and young men need to be prepared if they are to succeed and compete in the 21st century global economy,” she said.

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