The LCS-SRC Engineering Ambassadors Program was created in the spring of 2006 with the goal of establishing a foundational understanding of math and science among Syracuse City School District middle school students. The program, funded by the Syracuse Research Corporation, is devised to help young students understand the different fields of science and engineering and how they affect everyday life. The members of the program consist of middle school SCSD students and students from the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science under the direction of the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service at Syracuse University. The mission of the LCS-SRC Engineering Ambassadors program is to spark a lasting passion in science and technology early in the lives of these middle school students, with the ultimate effect being a desire to pursue those interests into high school and beyond.
The LCS-SRC Engineering Ambassadors program got off to a great start on at the Westside Academy at Blodgett. The year’s first lesson plan had Westside students building functional chairs out of newspaper and tape. After gaining knowledge of several concepts that relate to building structures, such as tensile forces and truss, the Westside Academy students partnered up with fellow classmates and Syracuse University students, and started working on sketches of what their chairs would look like. Motivated by the challenge that lay ahead, they began building their chairs.
