A Strategy For Success: The Edge Program In The Second Year

Recruiting and retaining students is a persistent challenge for engineering educators in almost every engineering program. Many universities and colleges have been using a broad range of outreach programs to introduce high school students to engineering with various degrees of success. There appears to be no certain method that works in all cases to attract students into a profession that lacks media exposure and Hollywood appeal. We started our second year cycle of EDGE with the goals of increasing students’ and parents’ awareness of our program, increasing the number of students participating in the program (knowing that word of mouth is the best advertising), and providing an engaging, student centered program. One of the key elements that made our program possible was the strong support and encouragement we received from our campus administrators, from the Dean all the way up to the President of the college. Another was the ability to hold open discussions among our team members regarding all aspects of the program.