KYTC visits Barren County High School
From construction zones to classrooms…
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is dedicated to educating students about the importance of engineering throughout the Commonwealth.
Today, officials from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spoke to students at Barren County High School.
Turning students into engineers…
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has partnered with schools throughout the state to bring exposure to engineering and scholarship opportunities. The program is called Kentucky Engineering Exposure Network.
“It just gives us an opportunity to expand the engineering and let the kids know that we have engineering scholarships available for the students and expose the students to engineering and what we do in the real world.” says Christopher Walden, the K.E.E.N coordinator for KYTC District 3.
Barren County High School engineering students got a chance to learn more about engineering from the experts.
“I think the K.E.E.N program really offers an opportunity to see the state scholarship for civil engineering. It also gives them a chance to do some hands on projects that require them to think a little bit and go outside the box of what we normally do.” says Carl Owens, the Engineering Instructor at Barren County High School.
The students got a chance to get a hands-on learning experience. Students were put into groups of two and were told to build a bridge. Once they completed the bridge, their work was put to the test. Weight was applied by a wench to see which bridge was the most durable.
Students also learned more about the Civil Engineering Scholarship, which can be worth over $50,000.
“Well for people like me who are more hands on oriented and don’t like the idea of going off to college just to get a degree and then sit behind a desk, it’s a hands-on thing. So, being able to get a scholarship helps me get that higher education, but also gives me the hands-on skills that I need to do something like that.” says Wesley Clark, a senior at BCHS.
There are a total of 80 scholarship with 15 to 20 of those awarded to new recipients each year.
