MND students are leading the way in STEM education by partnering with Stanley Black & Decker as part of its “For Those Who Make the World” high school engineering program.

Students in Mrs. Mary Beth Rieth’s Foundations in Engineering classes worked with Stanley Black & Decker engineers over a six-week period. The students were tasked with a variety of engineering challenges including tool designs for cars of the future, aluminum car parts and tools, attracting new tool users, wall mounts for laser levels, designing new torque/ratchet design, addressing packaging, instructions and marketing of tools for future users and “DIYers”, and designing of more durable tape measures. Each group worked through the engineering process with their mentor engineer from Stanley Black and Decker for guidance and clarification.

Final project results were presented virtually to Stanley Black & Decker engineers, the Director of Product Innovation, the Vice President of Engineering and the Vice President of Industrial Automotive Solutions, MND alumna Jillian Valerius Shute ’97. Each team had 15 minutes to present their journey and a question and answer session followed with the engineers. Students demonstrated great critical thinking skills, developed amazing ideas and surprised the panel with the depth of their knowledge and presentation skills.

“We were excited to partner with Mount Notre Dame on this project,” noted Jillian Shute, VP of Industrial Automotive Solutions. “The students in Mrs. Rieth’s Foundations in Engineering classes brought solutions and ideas that were equivalent to what we typically see from many college interns. These impressive young women are well on their way to be our future leaders in STEM-related fields.”