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A group of Denver high school students who recently descended on the CU-Boulder campus rolled up their sleeves for a week of real-world engineering experience and the opportunity to earn $2,500 scholarships.

The 40 students were participating in the Campos EPC EngiNearMe Program, a partnership between , the Denver Public Schools CareerConnect program and Campos EPC. A Denver-based engineering and project management group, Campos EPC sponsored the event and is providing scholarship money for the students.

The EngiNearMe program gave students from four Denver high schools hands-on engineering design experience that emphasized problem-solving to improve people’s lives in the community and around the world.

The students were from John F. Kennedy High School, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College High School, East High School and the Denver School for Science and Technology-Green Valley Ranch High School.

“I really enjoyed the EngiNnearMe Program,” said Nicolina Ursetta, a high school student at Kennedy High School who came to campus for the event. “It gave me a better understanding of what engineering is and something that I may want to do in the future.”

The focus of the student research was to analyze the recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan, working in teams to design water filtration systems. The students used state-of-the-art facilities, working with laser cutters, 3-D printers and Arduinos, an open-source prototyping platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software.

“We were thrilled to welcome a diverse group of students to our campus to experience the joy of engineering,” said Sarah Miller, assistant dean for inclusive excellence in the engineering college who helped organize the event. “We hope this experience helps students imagine themselves on our campus and in our college next year.”

All students participating in the week-long Campos EPC EngiNearMe program on the Boulder campus who are admitted and ultimately enroll in the engineering college will receive the one-time $2,500 scholarship, said Miller.

Miller, who leads the , is focused on the recruitment, retention and success of outstanding and diverse students, faculty and staff. As part of her work she oversees efforts to attract and prepare students for the rigors of engineering academics and careers, and to improve student performance and graduation rates.