Why Not Us? Empowering Rural Students through University Engineering Exposure

Project Summary

A teacher from Franklin, North Carolina organizes annual field trips to NC State University’s Engineering Open House, helping rural middle school students envision themselves in STEM careers and inspiring them to protect their natural environment through engineering pathways.

Detailed Story

For the past decade, Annie has been organizing a transformative annual field trip that takes middle school students from Franklin, NC (population 4,328) across the state to NC State University’s Engineering Open House. The 7-hour journey exposes rural students to high-tech career possibilities they rarely encounter in their small town. The carefully designed experience includes campus tours led by current NCSU students from their county, navigating campus transportation, evening debriefs, and journaling sessions that help students feel capable and connected in this new environment. Students who grew up hiking and fishing in the beautiful North Carolina mountains discover pathways to professionally protect the natural world they love through environmental, chemical, or systems engineering careers. The program creates powerful moments of connection when current NCSU engineering students, who first visited campus years ago on this same trip, interact with the new generation of middle schoolers. This creates a visible pipeline of success that students can see themselves joining. The 2024 trip coincided with March Madness, where an NC State basketball banner reading “Why Not Us?” became an unexpected motto for the young rural students, reinforcing that they too belong in these spaces despite geographical and economic barriers. While organizing these trips requires significant planning, funding, and supervision, Annie emphasizes their transformative impact on expanding students’ horizons and helping them envision themselves “doing big things in big places. “They come away so inspired, and so convinced that THEY can actually come to this place and make a difference.” – Annie H., Educator

Impact Statement

The program has created a pipeline of rural students pursuing engineering education at NC State University over the past decade. Students gain exposure to high-tech career paths, particularly those related to environmental protection. The excursions help students overcome geographical and socioeconomic barriers by fostering belonging and capability in academic spaces they might otherwise find intimidating.