On April 28, 2014 Strongwell was invited to participate in the YWCA of Bristol’s 2nd Annual Career Fair for its TechGYRLS Program. This YWCA initiative is a free afterschool program designed especially for girls (ages 9-15) to broaden their technical knowledge. Students develop the confidence to use technology tools, discover links between enjoyable technology projects and STEM subjects, and enhance their critical thinking skills. These skills are later used to construct, design, produce, animate, analyze, integrate, visualize and explore.

By providing access to STEM resources, students get academic support required for success in school by fostering foundations for learning, confidence persistence, organization, teamwork, and socialization. Some of the organizations which participated were: Alpha Natural Resources, Eastman Chemical Company, Appalachian Sustainable Development, The University of Virginia at Wise, King University, Northeast State Community College, Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center and Milligan College.

Strongwell provided a representative who discussed the role of manufacturing within communities and the strong demand for creative diversity, technology, science and mathematics applications within a world-class manufacturing facility. Samples of EXTREN®, ballistic panel, Fibrebolt® and carbon fiber composites were also provided to discuss the future of building with FRP composite materials.

Many thanks to the YWCA TechGYRLS program of Bristol for coordinating this outreach event.