As part of its commitment to the community, American Transmission Co. supports educational programs that enrich and enlighten students in the areas it serves. ATC employees are sharing their strengths with students involved in science, technology, engineering and math programs throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Future Milwaukee engineers
To celebrate Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day during National Engineers Week in February, ATC invited girls in grades six through eight at Milwaukee Public Schools Fairview School to visit its Pewaukee headquarters.
Women employees from engineering disciplines ranging from electrical to civil engineering shared experiences about their education and careers and gave the students the opportunity to ask questions.
Students then toured the ATC operations center. Their tour guide, Sandra Anderson, team leader of real time operations, said, “I hope the students learned that women work in practically all arenas of industry and are succeeding. Being successful takes hard work, dedication and excellence.”
System Operations Engineer Amanda Dagens said, “I loved how engaged the students were. They were so attentive to what we were presenting and had great questions – not your typical run of the mill questions either – that really made you think. I hope the students enjoyed our time together as much as I did. Giving to our future colleagues is so wonderful for me and I hope someday to see some of those faces working side by side with me.”
This week, a group of ATC volunteers visited Fairview School to work on projects in the classroom. Students in grades two through four were assigned a project to create an egg carrier that, when dropped from the top of the school building, will allow a raw egg to survive unbroken. ATC volunteers provided supplies and helped teachers facilitate the project.
Eighth grade design engineering students at Fairview conducted interviews with ATC employee volunteers to gain the information necessary to design and create a job tool requested by the employee “client.”
Jason Floyd, Fairview science and Project Lead the Way teacher, said, “It was great to see students engaging with adults in a career-oriented environment. The participants did a great job simulating a client-customer relationship. Authentic experiences like these allow students to gain the necessary skills and experiences to be successful in higher education and the workforce.”
Each group of Fairview students will have three weeks to complete their respective project. Employees will be invited to attend the egg-drop event and an open house presentation of the projects.
Robotics in the UP
A group of students mentored by ATC Senior Project Manager Jim Pericolosi recently competed in a robotics tournament after building and programming a robot.
High school students in the Dickinson County School District in Michigan competed at the First Robotics Competition last week at Escanaba High School.
With just six weeks to build the robot, a group of roughly 20 students worked together to complete the project.
Pericolosi says he’s proud of what the team accomplished.
“We’re setting up a good foundation for future years,” he said.
Pericolosi’s involvement with STEM programming in the Dickinson County School District started last year when he gave a presentation to middle school students as part of ATC’s commitment to fostering an environment for STEM education.
