November 2005 Issue

Junior High Students Blaze Trails to Engineering

Student investigating a Trailblazer exhibit

A Dunbar Middle School student experiments with a lumin lightning disc in Trailblazer's exhibit on lightning and static electricity.

In West Texas, cattle trailers are as common as cotton fields.

But pack that same trailer full of engineering experiments and the results are surprisingly uncommon.

Meet Trailblazer - a 40-foot-long trailer turned discovery center on wheels. A project of the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME), Trailblazer is jam-packed with hands-on exhibits designed to get students interested in engineering careers.

During the trailer's weeklong stay, over 500 students from Lubbock Independent School District's elementary and middle schools climbed aboard the mobile science museum to experience interactive exhibits ranging from aerodynamics and electricity to biomedicine and meteorology.

Dedicated to increasing minority enrollment in engineering, the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering uses programs like Trailblazer to educate students through experience-based learning. By motivating kids academically and connecting them with K-12 engineering programs like the Pre-college Engineering Academy at Texas Tech University, the alliance continues to provide engineering opportunities for students from all walks of life.

This year's event was coordinated by the Center for Engineering Outreach in cooperation with Dunbar Middle School. Dunbar is a member of the center's Pre-college Engineering Academy.

Learn More

Find out more information about the TAME Trailblazer