by Walt Myers

Abstract
Saturday Academy's high school Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering (ASE) Program has 11 years of successful collaboration with employers to develop an indigenous technical work force pool for the future. This is a call for mentors and student apprentices for the Summer 2001 ASE Program.

Tired of competing for a limited pool of talent?
Job and career fairs, employment open houses, heavy media advertising, and finders bonuses are all resource intensive and only compete for a limited pool of existing talent. Help develop a larger work force pool of the future by turning bright high school students on to science, engineering, and technology.

Honor your past mentors!
Who was your significant teacher, advisor or mentor that helped you pursue your own career? You can amplify and return your own benefit to the coming generations. If you don't have the time or student contacts to develop a comprehensive mentoring process, consider the ASE Program.

Why mentor?
Many students with the potential to excel in science or engineering have only a general idea of what a career in these fields entails. They have little or no contact with adult practitioners until they are well into college or beyond. ASE provides high school freshman, sophomores, and juniors with exceptional opportunities in a professional, scientific, or engineering environment. ASE helps them explore, test, and refine their interests to make better-informed educational and career decisions.

Why ASE?
The ASE Program has 11 years of experience of providing the infrastructure, contacts, program content, and monitoring to facilitate mentor contributions to the education and training of the next generation of professionals. These students do great work too! Mentors have found their apprentices to be creative and productive--worth the investment of time and resources.

The ASE program combines job application, competition, performance, and results reporting in a comprehensive summer experience for high school students. ASE provides the opportunity for employers to screen students for tracking to a longer-term relationship as they pursue their education. Many collaborating employers hire their ASE students back and support them as college co-ops or interns all with the intent or agreement to hire the student when they graduate from college.

Enlist as a mentor now!
Science and engineering professionals are needed to serve as mentors for the Summer 2001 ASE Program. Visit the ASE Web page, http://www.ogi.edu/satacad/ase, for program information including sample student position descriptions. Call (503) 748-1395 for more information or help in custom development of a challenging student apprenticeship for next summer. The mentor registration deadline is January 15, 2001. ASE can help you custom design a student position to fit your specific work environment and discipline.

Students needed too!
If you have science oriented high school students in your families or circle of friends, they are invited to apply for the positions in the program.

ASE apprentices receive an eight-week comprehensive summer science experience, high school credit and a $1,400 summer stipend. Students who are in their freshman, sophomore, or junior year are now eligible to apply for the Summer 2001 program unless they have already been an ASE apprentice. Students can obtain application materials by calling ASE at (503) 748-1215. The student application deadline is January 31, 2001.

ASE Program History
ASE was initiated in 1990 to address the growing concern over the quantity, quality, and cultural/gender diversity of our nation's future technical work force. ASE has grown from 36 student apprentices in the first year to 201 students in the Summer 2000 program. The number of mentoring organizations has grown to 85. In its 11-year history the program has provided 1800 students with a hands-on eight-week apprenticeship with practicing professionals in science and engineering disciplines. These students have been drawn from a pool of over 8,000 applicants from across Oregon and southwest Washington. The Summer 2000 program consisted of 46% female and 24% minority students.

ASE Affiliation
The Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering (ASE) Program is part of Saturday Academy, a department of the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. The cost of program participation and support by "for profit" companies is tax deductible.

Walt Myers, PE organizes Mentorship Development for Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering at Saturday Academy, Oregon Graduate Institute. He can be reached at 503-748-1395. Visit ASE on the Web at: http://www.ogi.edu/satacad/ase