4/24/02

AUBURN ENGINEERING HOSTS WEEKEND SECME COMPETITION

AUBURN -- Auburn University's BellSouth Minority Engineering Program and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering will host the 2002 Alabama SECME Competition on Saturday, April 27.

More than 250 high school competitors, teachers and counselors will be on campus for the event, which is coordinated by the BellSouth Minority Engineering Program.

SECME is a nationwide network of K-12 teachers and administrators who encourage minority middle and high school students to pursue careers in science and engineering.

Since the Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering has expanded nationwide, it is now known by the acronym only.

SECME students participate in poster, essay, banner and mousetrap-car design competitions in their local school districts. The winners of the local competitions are encouraged to participate in competitions at the state level and state winners are eligible for the national competition, to be held in Washington, D.C., in July.

The competitions will be held in Foy Union from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Auburn Engineering has hosted the SECME State Competitions for three of the past five years and the event has been a tremendous success," says Dennis Weatherby, assistant dean of engineering for minority affairs. "Hosting the SECME competitions is an integral part of our recruiting efforts because it gives us a chance to nurture minority students' interest in technical fields while at the same time expose them to Auburn's engineering programs, students and faculty."

"The event also gives us the chance to develop a close working relationship with high school and middle school teachers and counselors who sacrifice their time to encourage the interest of these aspiring engineers," Weatherby added. 250 guests are expected on campus for the event which includes 19 mousetrap car teams, 7 essayists and 15 poster competitors.

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CONTACT: Dennis Weatherby, 334/844-2331.