WSU PREP Engineers Success

Adrienne Williams, 14, always knew she wanted to go into a STEM field, but graduating from WSU PREP has set her on a path to become an engineer. 

PREP is a seven-week summer STEM boot camp for high-achieving junior high students, focusing on populations that are often underrepresented in STEM fields, including girls, minorities and first-generation college students. The program began five years ago with 72 students. By 2019, the program had grown to more than 191 students. 

Williams is one of the 86 students who have graduated from PREP after completing all three years of the program. Her classes covered a wide variety of topics, like problem solving, statistics and engineering, giving her a solid base for what she would be learning in her classes at Wahlquist Jr. High in Farr West, where she is currently a ninth grader. “When I went into seventh grade, they were teaching what I had learned in PREP, and it made it easier for me to get the problems,” she said. 

The program is offered through WSU’s College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology with the support of the College of Science, and is free to students through a collaboration with community partners and the Davis, Ogden and Weber school districts. 

PREP was awarded WSU’s 2019 Exemplary Collaboration award for its work with various partners.