About seven girls will be attending the annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” conference held at the Overland Park Convention Center on Feb. 21.

The conference serves to give girls more information about the different types of engineering, the future careers they could have and things that they could do in the engineering field.

“It is also a great opportunity for them to network and just meet people in the field, and kind of figure out whether or not it is something they might be interested in,” counselor Lindsay Hothan said.

While at the conference the participants will be able to ask questions and listen to college students who are enrolled in engineering classes.

There will also be different break-out sessions that they can attend as well as an engineering discipline fair and an industry fair.

The girls will also be able to learn about different schools of engineering at colleges such as Wichita State University, University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

Hothan believes that one of the best things that the girls will be able to do is meet other girls who are interested in the subject as well.

The conference works to try and get girls interested in these careers since it is, statistically, a predominantly male profession.

“I think there is kind of a stereotype. Math and science, a lot of times, get associated with guys and careers that involve a lot of math and science typically tends to go that way, and we have a lot of females students here who really excel in those areas,” Hothan said.

One of the students attending is junior Kate Barger who is debating whether she wants to pursue engineering as a career.

“I want to gain as much information as I can to help me make my decision, and since there is not a lot of girls in engineering I want to hear from their perspective and how they got into the field,” Barger said.

Another student who will attend is sophomore Jaycie Thaemert. She decided to go because she is interested in engineering and the challenge that is presents.

Furthermore, she thinks that engineering is ‘fun.’

“It is really mentally stimulating. It is different from the rest of things in school; you have to think outside of the box,” Thaemert said.

Hothan believes that these girls will gain very valuable information that could potentially pay off in the future.

“Engineering is such an awesome field to go into right now just because the demand for jobs in that field is very high,” Hothan said.  “I think it is good to let these girls know that if they are successful in these types of subjects that there are awesome opportunities out there career-wise that they could be successful in.”