SECME Regional Competition
SECME is a strategic alliance partnering schools, universities, industry, and government to renew and strengthen the
professional capacity of K-12 educators, motivate and mentor students, and empower parents and communities so that all
young people will learn and achieve at higher levels. SECME's mission is to increase the pool of historically under
represented, under-served, and differently-abled students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary
studies in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology, thus creating a diverse and globally competitive
workforce.
UCF CECS is a proud sponsor and host for the SECME Regional Competition. Our College of Engineering and Computer has
a long history of promoting diversity and supporting pre-college science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
programs. This is evidenced by the programs initiated by our college faculty and as seen at our CECS Outreach Office (website). Our future engineering and computer
science students are sitting in Central Florida (and beyond) K12 classrooms making decisions about their futures. An
important part of our college's recruitment mission is to help enlighten young students by supporting programs such as
the SECME Regional Competition.
In celebration of Engineering Week, on Saturday, February 18, 2012, 300+ students, teachers, parents, volunteers, industry judges and CECS staff and student volunteers participated in the 2012 SECME Regional Competition. 135 student teams from elementary through high schools in Orange and Seminole school districts participated in five competitions. They included the Design (Mousetrap Car) Competition, Essay Competition, the Water Rocketry Competition, the Bridge Building Competition and the Glider Competition.
We wish to specifically thank this year’s SECME partners to include SAIC, Lockheed Martin, Metz & Associates, the Orlando Youth Aviation Center and Carley Corporation. We also acknowledge the dedication of members from our CECS Academic Affairs Office and the student volunteers who represented Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and undergraduate students from UCF’s ICubed (NSF funded) program. They were instrumental in helping to administer the competition and support the judging for the individual events. The combination of competitions and presentations for parents, teachers and students focused on applying engineering principals and acquainting students with engineering degree programs at UCF-CECS. We wish to also acknowledge the contributions made by Sandra Gutierrez who “serves on the Program Management team for Central Florida’s SunRail project”. Sandra was our lunch time presenter and shared with students, teachers, parents and student volunteers the excitement and engineering potential for the SunRail project in Central Florida.
UCF-CECS is committed to the SECME program and will continue to host the Regional Competition. To this end, Dr. Fidelia Nnadi will administer the event in 2013 and will need all of our continuing support. Again, UCF-CECS thanks all the staff members, students and industry volunteers who made the 2012 SECME Regional Competition a successful event.
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