Estefania Cruz-Castillo, Amber Pryor, Caitlind Walker and other students watch an engineer during their monthly meeting at Boeing. Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company that designs, manufactures and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets and satellites. (Photo by Madi Graves)
Exploring Boeing’s World of Engineering Sophomores Caitlind Walker, Amber Pryor and Estefania Cruz-Casillo go to Boeing for an engineering program for high schoolers BY CAROLYNN GONZALEZ carolynnnn.182@gmail.com
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FHNTODAY.COM
PAGE BY CAROLYNN GONZALEZ
03.16.16
The field of engineering is becoming increasingly more important to today’s society. Because engineering is so vital, programs such as the Boeing Explore Post have been established for kids. While some people view programs like the Boeing Explore Post as something to put on their resume, others like sophomores Caitlind Walker, Amber Pryor, Estefania Cruz-Casillo and five other FHN students see it as a stepping stone into their future careers. “I really like how creative we get to be with it,” Estafania said. “No one can tell is exactly what to do. We get to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.” The Boeing Explore Post is a program for high school students to further their knowledge of engineering. It shows them what it’s like to have an actual engineering occupation and provides a more hands-on experience that isn’t found in schools.
“Since they’re being guided by engineers that have already experienced what their careers are like, it makes the program a closer simulation to an engineering job,” Cindi Walker, Caitlind’s mother and executive director of global support and services at Boeing, said. According to Pryor, the Boeing Explore Post was advertised to them in their engineering class and both Caitlind and Amber took interest. With encouragement from Cindi, they applied. “We both want to be engineers, so we wanted to be exposed to different forms of engineering,” Caitlind said. “Plus, since Boeing is an actual company, you know the program is going to be legit.” In order to be chosen to be a part of the Boeing Explore Post, an essay must be written on why the applicant believes they should receive a spot in the program. Only 80 applicants out of the 200 that applied are accepted each season, which begins in