Project Lead the Way conference for recruiting: A small-campus outreach to local high school students

Abstract

Quite a bit has been written in recent years to address Project Lead the Way (PLTW) curriculum,1,2,3,4,5 instruction,6,7,8,9,10,11 and articulation,12,13 as well as outreach to underrepresented groups,14, 15 but they are generally either broad in scope (state or national level) or from the perspective of a fairly large educational institution, or both. The authors of this paper are part of a large university in the state of Indiana, but are not located on the main campus. They are part of a small group of faculty and staff who are tenants on a regional campus of another public university. This situation is a substantial obstacle to awareness in the community and student recruitment. One of the activities the faculty and staff use to increase local awareness and boost recruiting is an annual Project Lead the Way Conference for local • the conference and its evolution over the past three years, high school students. The third annual conference was held September 30th, 2011, hosting 76 students and five teachers from area high schools. Each conference includes hands-on activities with technology, along with information about careers and campus life. This paper provides some background about the campus relationships in Purdue University, then describes: • lessons learned along the way, • establishment of relationships with local high school teachers, • industry participation, • attainment of local media coverage of the event, and • feedback from follow-up surveys of the high school teachers after the conference. The last section before the Conclusion summarizes the authors' suggestions for setting up a similar successful conference. The conclusion discusses areas of further improvement to be implemented in future conferences. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.