Skilled Magazine
Engineering for Kids of Hubertus recently opened at 1239 Highway 175 in Hubertus. The center engages young kids with school classes, birthday parties and camps across as many engineering pathways as possible to get them interested in the field early, owner Kimberly Crawford said. (Photo courtesy of Engineering for Kids)
By Ethan Duran
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Kids in communities surrounding Milwaukee will find ways to get engaged with engineering before high school thanks to a new learning center slated to open in Washington County in early October.
Engineering for Kids of Hubertus, a learning center that offers engineering activities for children from pre-K to early high school, had its grand opening at 1239 Highway 175 in Hubertus on Oct. 1.
The center engages young kids with school classes, birthday parties and camps across as many engineering pathways as possible to get them interested in the field early, owner Kimberly Crawford said.
Crawford, who served as the Xploratory Engineer at PartsBadger, said she discovered engineering in high school and didn’t see enough programs in local high schools and colleges. To address the lack of visibility for engineering careers for young kids, she decided to open the center to serve communities in Washington and Waukesha counties.
“We work with kids from pre-K to high school, and the purpose of that is to connect with them early on,” Crawford said. “They can take different programs across all types of engineering, and when they come to class they have different takeaways. The program is there for them to figure out what they like and there’s always something new for them to try.”
Though children stop taking Engineering for Kids when they get into early high school age, they can still get involved with related competitions and clubs and keep their career pathways open to engineering in the future, Crawford said. While working in mechanical engineering, Crawford said she saw a workforce shortage coming and said introducing engineering to young kids would address the growing skills gap.
Targeting a young audience also gives the center a chance to break gender stigmas and get more young women into engineering, which Crawford said she ran into in the male-dominated field firsthand while in school and in her career.
“It’s been better over the last 10 to 15 years, but we want to reach a younger demographic and break those gender stigmas,” Crawford said. “We want to show girls they can make the choice to get into engineering.”
The Hubertus center is part of the Engineering for Kids franchise, which has more than 90 locations in 35 different countries, the organization said in a statement. The program has changed the lives of more than 350,000 students since it started in 2009, the organization added.
Crawford said she hopes to open more Engineering for Kids locations in Wisconsin, including one in Milwaukee County. The Hubertus location will serve Brookfield, Cedarburg, Delafield, Germantown, Hartland, West Bend and the surrounding area.