Launching Students into Engineering Success

By Matthew Oszman | Project Engineer

You know you have chosen the right career path when the universe merges your past influences with your current situation. This happened recently to me when another TREKK civil engineer, Taren Leeds, and I were asked to be judges at the High School Engineering Design Competition hosted by the University of Kansas. The competition provides learning through hands-on experience that incorporates science, technology, engineering and math.

Little did I know this experience would ignite memories of where my love for engineering began.

My discovery of engineering started in 2016 when a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) outreach class was just beginning at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. My math and pre-engineering teacher, Donna Pederson, directed my career choice through this program and gave me a better understanding of the various fields and skills involved in engineering.

I was surprised that one of the 17 teams we judged was from my former high school. When I was involved in the program, it hadn’t yet evolved into a competition.

Participating teams were asked to design a sustainable and sturdy concept for communal living on Mars in the year 3000. It was fascinating to see how each team interpreted the challenge, the different aspects of life on Mars they focused on, and the solutions they developed. Each team’s project was judged on aesthetics and had to undergo lab testing for compression strength.

I’m proud to be part of a firm like TREKK that values STEM initiatives in our communities. PLTW helped me find engineering as a career and I’m grateful that I can pay it forward to future generations of engineers.