Students ride the waves to learn about careers in natural science

HOUGHTON — A group of high school students from Detroit spent the week learning about careers in natural science.

Studies show that careers in natural resources are among the least diverse. To help change that and to improve diversity on their own campus, Michigan Tech is hosting 22 high school students from the Detroit area. The program called Ride The Waves introduced the students to a whole new slate of career possibilities.

16-year-old Davaughn Smith from Cody High School in Detroit said, “I want to pursue (a career) in Chemical Engineering, but they say there’s jobs where that is applied to what you are doing with your natural resources and the animals around here, because I really love animals and putting them into the work I do for any job that I get or career, that would be awesome.”

The students also got to take a trip aboard Michigan Tech’s research vessel Agassiz, where they learned about lake water.
It was just part of the all-expense paid week-long trip.

14-year-old Minali Bahtt from International Academy West in White Lake said, “I got to talk to a lot of park rangers who showed me all sorts of new botany information and all sorts of new ecology, and things to do with the ecosystem around
here, which I definitely wouldn’t have gotten to learn at my school.”

The program wouldn’t have been possible without $15,000 in support from a variety of groups including Michigan Tech’s Housing & Residential Life, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, School of Forest Resources &
Environmental Sciences and General Motors, just to name a few.