Every Tuesday and Thursday, Colorado School of Mines students and an IBM Researcher visit a DPS middle school and introduce hands-on workshops that expose students to science and engineering concepts.

"Engineering Your Future" is a joint effort of the CSM Minority Engineering Program, Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics Program, IBM and DPS that hopes to encourage girls and ethnic minorities to purse math, science and engineering as college majors and eventually careers.

"In our science and math classes we have fewer girls that are proficient than we do boys," said Tom Bauman, Lake Middle School Principal. "I'm hoping that this program will get them excited and that they will see that science is for everybody."

On November 20th, at 1:00 p.m., Superintendent Jerry Wartgow and Colorado School of Mines President Dr. John Trefny will hold a joint news conference announcing this endeavor. The news conference will be held in the Lake Middle School library located at 1820 Lowell Blvd. It will be followed by a "human wave" demonstration and a chance to see some experiments in the classroom.

"We are trying to reach students at a critical stage of their educational careers," stated CSM MEP Director Judi Diaz-Bonacquisti. "If students get excited about engineering now, they may take the necessary classes in high school that will allow them to pursue engineering at the college level."