More than 2,000 high school students flooded campus Friday to experience E-Day, where they were able to see a hovercraft, make paper, see robots and participate in hundreds of other hands-on activities.
"E-Day is a fantastic experience for high school students to come out and see what we do," said Brent White, senior in mechanical engineering. "It highlights the extracurriculars engineering students are involved in and their real-world applications."
Tours were given to prospective students and their parents by members of Cupola, engineering ambassadors, and Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.
"It was a great chance to look around campus and find out about scholarships," said
Charlee Lipham, senior at Oxford High School.
Each branch of engineering showed off the products of their labor in the Student Center.
The chemical engineering department allowed students to make paper, watch a video about fuel cell cars and play a game of viscosity pong.
Jennifer Harris, academic adviser for the department, was also present to talk to students about scholarships and advising in chemical engineering.
"Most departments don't see their freshmen and sophomores, but I advise them from Camp War Eagle on," Harris said. The polymer and fiber department displayed its hovercraft, a lightweight fiberglass vehicle that floats above the ground.
"It can go up to 60 miles per hour on land and water," said Matthew Stitt, freshman in mechanical engineering.
Stitt said he saw the same demonstration when he came to E-Day, and it influenced his decision to come to Auburn.
Chase Smith, sophomore at Childersburg High School, was impressed by the hovercraft demonstration and Auburn's campus. "I heard that Auburn had a good engineering school, so I came," Smith said. "It's a really nice campus." The biosystems department displayed a solar trailer that produced renewable energy using wood chips as well as a filtering system that filters water from a fish tank using solar power.
The Society of Women Engineers catered to female high school students visiting E-Day.
"We want to promote women in engineering in any way we can," said Ellen Clark, senior in industrial and systems engineering. Clark said the Society of Women Engineers offers social benefits, exam banks and community service. "They really liked that we do a lot of fun stuff and that we do stuff in the community--the moms really liked that," Clark said.
Three to four months of planning go into E-Day, and students volunteer their time to lead demonstrations and tours, said Zach Lamb, senior in mechanical engineering and president of Tau Beta Pi.
"Everything was as good, if not better than last year," Lamb said. Tau Beta Pi coordinated E-Day this year, and Lamb said he felt like it was successful. "We really appreciate our students who have volunteered," said Bill Josephson, assistant professor of chemical engineering. "They do a high quality job."
Lamb said E-Day is important to the University because it boosts recruiting.
"E-Day is a huge recruiting tool for Auburn," Lamb said. "High school students can visually get an idea of what an engineer does."
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