Most kids hate taking time out of their summer to be in school, but not high school junior Dylan Manccillas. “I don’t want to leave. I love it; it’s paradise,” said Manccillas, one of two dozen high school students participating in the Science and Engineering Community Outreach Program at Loyola Marymount University this year.
SECOP, a two-week residential engineering boot camp, lets students from low-income areas who get to experience what it’s like to be an engineering or science student at LMU.
“These 16-year-old kids are more mature than your typical high school student because they really want to take advantage of their time here,” said Matt Siniawski, a professor of mechanical engineering. This summer, the students are building mousetrap cars in Siniawski’s course using state-of-the-art software in LMU labs and working side-by-side with LMU faculty doing hands-on engineering.
On the last day of class, there will be a race to see whose car will go the farthest. Siniawski said the project teaches students design, creativity, and communication skills. At the same time, they get to have fun. “I love it because it is hands-on. It’s boring to just listen to lectures all the time. In this class, you get to be creative,” said Joshua Zanders-Norris, a SECOP student.
Outside of class, SECOP students get to also experience living in a college dorm, eating cafeteria food and all around campus life.
In its nine years of operation,the SECOP program has introduced more than two hundred high school students from more than 65 high schools to the joys of engineering. SECOP is sponsored by Vought Aircraft Industries, Northrop Grumman and the California Educational Facilities Authority.
The results of SECOP have been outstanding. According to a recent survey done by SECOP Director Barbara Christie, 99% of the participants who have graduated high school go on to college, and of these students 65% have selected science, technology, engineering or mathematics majors. Twelve SECOP alumni have attended LMU.
