Giving kids hands-on experiences can help spark an interest that can result in them eventually pursuing high-tech careers.
To support some of those experiences, officials from Hill Air Force Base on Tuesday helped open a model air traffic control tower in Junior Achievement City located at Discovery Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City.
The tower is part of an interactive learning environment in which students participate in real-life careers in business, government, utilities, and now, the United States Air Force, explained Alison Sturgeon, STEM program manager at Hill Air Force Base. She said the model is aimed at getting more young students to become interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields.
“The tower can highlight the Air Force’s need for people to go into STEM fields, especially computer science because all of our planes are run by software and pilots,” she said. “I hope that they get the sense of how incredible our planes are. In fact, the new F-35 has the nickname ‘a computer with wings.'”
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