Goodrich Corporation hopes to help encourage high school students across the states of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan to pursue careers in engineering through its sponsorship of the University of Cincinnati's "BearCat BEST (Boosting Engineering Science & Technology)" competition. Students are challenged to put their knowledge, imagination and a few supplies to work to build robots that will compete for awards such as "Best Robot Performance," "Most Creative Design," and "Most Robust."
The materials for the robots were provided to each team free of charge, compliments of Goodrich and UC. Each team was then given six weeks to create a functional robot. On October 21, the competition came to an exciting close with a "Game Day" exercise at the Duke Energy Convention Center, where students were able to show off the robots they have created.
John Grisik, executive vice president of Operational Excellence and Technology for Goodrich Corporation, was on site on "Game Day" to address the students and inform and inspire them with information about the wide variety of opportunities available to them if they were to pursue engineering degrees.
According to Grisik, "The BEST Competition is a wonderful way for Goodrich to make a difference in the communities in which we work and live. We employ over 1,600 people across the state of Ohio in Cleveland, Troy and Uniontown, and by reaching out to these talented local students we hope to motivate them to not only consider engineering degrees but also to look to the aerospace industry as they form career aspirations."