On Feb. 19, Columbia Gas of Ohio team members welcomed the Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland back to the Arena District office for the seventh Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. The event, organized by NiSource employee resource group DAWN (Dedicated to Advancing Women at NiSource), aims to show young girls that a career in engineering or STEM is attainable.
The day commenced with a safety moment from Safety & Health Coordinator Beth Johnson and opening remarks from Operational Excellence Vice President Lauren Grether. Following this, the girls participated in a Rube Goldberg Challenge, building overly complicated devices to complete simple tasks. Awards were given for best teamwork, most creative, and most functional overall. Field Engineer Alison Garbash led this activity.
“I think when they come in in the morning, they’re thinking, why am I here, why am I coming here when I have a day off from school? But when you get started with the Rube Goldberg experiment, they’re really engaged,” said Environmental Principal and DAWN member Kristy Monk. “They’re very happy and surprised when they get awards.”
Columbia Gas/NiSource team members guided and encouraged the girls throughout the day. Project Management Manager and DAWN member Lisle Shaner emphasized an engineering-focused approach during the challenge.
“We heavily focused on trying to figure out the different aspects of actually doing the Rube Goldberg machine,” said Shaner. “We tried to get a little deeper into that engineering aspect and see what we could figure out. It was fun.”
Judges for the event included Lauren Grether, Gas Distribution Construction Vice President Ashley Weaver, and Business Transformation & Governance Vice President Chuck Shafer.
Post-challenge activities included an environmental exercise led by Environmental Coordinator Tiffany Fritchley and a gas safety demonstration by Senior Technical Trainer Rose Berendt. The environmental activity involved creating plans to mitigate erosion effects similar to those used in Columbia Gas projects. The gas safety demonstration featured a controlled explosion.
“Everyone was kind of commenting on the excitement, energy you could feel even outside of the room,” said Financial Planning & Analysis Manager and DAWN member Brittany Wenger. “The gas demonstration team said the Girl Scouts are always the most engaged and ask the best questions.”
After lunch, Ashley Weaver announced winners of the Rube Goldberg Challenge. Engineers Meghan Clement, Kristin Yorko, Heidi Zacher-Shockey alongside Lisle Shaner led a roundtable discussion answering questions from the Girl Scouts.
At day's end, Columbia Gas/NiSource team members distributed goodie bags containing candy, plastic hard hats, and friendship bracelet kits before sending participants home.
While women have become more prevalent in engineering and STEM careers, efforts like Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day continue to encourage young girls toward these fields.
“Back then it was me and one other woman in class or just me,” said Kristy Monk about her college engineering program. “Sadly I don’t think it’s changed that much... It’s very important to show what career possibilities are out there.”
Lisle Shaner highlighted how such events introduce potential career paths: “Stuff like this is a good pipeline into getting people to understand what companies are out there... Being able to show that there are job opportunities everywhere... these are job opportunities some day.”