First-year students get look at engineering careers at Norfolk event

When more than 500 first-year UNL engineering students converged on Norfolk October 9, it was "Game On" for the host city and for the College of Engineering.

The college's annual Industry Day Tour, held this year in collaboration with the Norfolk Area Economic Development Council, provided students the opportunity to tour various engineering projects and area firms, agencies and businesses that offer engineering careers, as well as network with professionals.

Students toured many sites in Norfolk, including Continental ContiTech, Medtronic, Nucor Detailing Center, Nucor Steel, Nucor Cold Finish, Nucor Vulcraft Group, Nebraska Public Power District, the City of Norfolk's water and wastewater treatment facilities, JEO Consulting Group, Smeal Fire Apparatus, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Arnold Magnetic Technologies and Flexmag Industries Inc.

The students were split into groups, riding to Norfolk on a motor coach and then being shepherded around the city to three different sites, with a stop at Veterans Memorial Field for lunch and a career fair where students and the companies, firms and government agencies interacted.

Norfolk mayor Sue Fuchtman said having the opportunity for her city to play host to such a large group of future engineers was a win for all the parties involved.

"As leaders in this community, we are responsible for helping to sustain the businesses here. It's a tough job to recruit engineers because it's such a competitive market, and they're in high demand," Fuchtman said. "We asked ourselves, 'How do we help them to help us?'

"Plus, we get a chance to show these students, who in a few years will be entering the work force, not only what kind of great jobs could be had right here in Norfolk but that we have a quality of life here that is second to none."

Josue Zamarano, a mechanical engineering major, said the trip helped him confirm that he made the right choice for his college career.

"I've kind of struggled with first month of college, but a lot of the engineers we talked with said they struggled in their first couple of years," Zamarano said. "That kind of changed my view because I assumed that engineers were always the best at everything in math and science. Hearing them talk about what they went through and then saying that it was definitely worth it, that's so reassuring."

Civil engineering major Emma Martin said the exposure to engineers and the work they do helped to change her image of what engineering is all about.

"It was helpful, because I learned there are lots of different paths you can take in engineering," Martin said.

"I thought it was all about design or scribbling down numbers and entering things into a computer. Today, I learned that it's so much more than that. There are engineers who work in sales, consulting, manufacturing and so many other areas, and each of them has to work as part of a team."

Martin said it was also important to see that engineers don't have to live in metropolitan areas to have an impact.

"A lot of people don't think engineers communicate with the outside world, but it was really important to see that's not true," Martin said. "They find out what people need and want and find ways to implement that. We got to see what engineers are doing, and they're changing the world. I want to do that, too."