Two speakers from NIPSCO visited fifth and sixth graders at Merrillville Intermediate School (MIS) Nov. 22.
Aaron Steinhilber, engineering supervisor, and Kent Chen, engineer, discussed careers in engineering and talked to students about how engineering affects everyday lives.
It took an engineer to help make gummy bears, according to Steinhilber.
“Someone had to design a barrel and calculate how much time the candy had to be in the barrel and how fast it would turn in order to dry the gummy bears,” he said. “Someone had to do the math and calculations to figure that out.”
Nichole Perez, MIS college and career readiness counselor, said the school is regularly bringing in professionals to talk to the students about career opportunities.
“It's part of an initiative to expose students at a younger age to careers besides the ones of which they would normally think, such as doctor, police officer, veterinarian, teacher, etc.,” she said.