ExxonMobil To Visit Middle Schools In Hopes Of Attracting Future Female Engineering Students

FAIRFAX, Va - As a participant in National Engineers Week, ExxonMobil is sending our engineers into eight Fairfax County Public Middle Schools to raise awareness of engineering career opportunities for everyone, especially young women. Designated “Introduction to Engineering Day,” these events highlight career paths in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the goal of attracting young women and men to the engineering profession, while raising awareness of the impact such careers have on everyday life.
“With a healthy dose of imagination and a knack for math and science, anyone, can become successful engineers,” said Katy Weidenfeller, engineering graduate of Rice University and engineering associate at ExxonMobil, as well as past President of the Baltimore-Washington Section of the Society of Women Engineers. “ExxonMobil promotes engineering and related careers through events such as ’Introduction to Engineering Day’ to provide seventh grade students an up-close perspective of what engineering has to offer.”
Women are one of the largest underrepresented groups in engineering today, an industry that is about 90 percent male. “Introduction to Engineering Day” was created to introduce talented young men and women to the impact engineering has on every aspect of daily life – from travel to shopping to technology to construction.
ExxonMobil engineers will visit eight local middle schools, where more than 1,700 seventh graders will hear engineers talk about their experiences and participate in interactive demonstrations and experiments.
The school visitation schedule is:
0. February 12: Liberty, Langston Hughes and Key Middle Schools
0. February 21: Hayfield Middle School
0. February 22: Hayfield Middle School
0. February 26: Luther Jackson and Holmes Middle Schools
0. March 5: Luther Jackson and Key Middle Schools
0. March 9: Herndon Middle School
0. March 12: Lanier Middle School
Nationally, “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” now in its seventh year, is mobilizing women engineers to actively reach out to an estimated one million girls throughout the year. Several ExxonMobil locations are participating, including Akron, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Beaumont, Texas; Chalmette, Louisiana; Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; Fairfax, Virginia; and Torrance, California.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is a leading international energy company whose subsidiaries have operations in approximately 180 countries and territories. In the United States, ExxonMobil has significant exploration and production, refining and marketing and chemicals operations.
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