On November 5, a unique opportunity for students to learn about a future career came to Fossil Ridge High School. The Electrical Engineering Escape Room encouraged students to try their skills in electrical engineering and even recruit them for a summer internship or apprenticeship.

A volunteer teaching and facilitating the escape room, Dylan Meyer, stated, “It specifically allows us to come out and talk to high schoolers and get them interested in other opportunities as opposed to just college. We were talking about trade schools specifically.”

Students had to turn on a series of four lights, each with a specific challenge to escape. Each light corresponded to light up signs displaying the core values of the company: service, people, principle, and strength. To escape, they learned how to, “wire up outlet receptacles, wire up a switch, and wire up a fan.” Students also faced the hardest challenge, the three-way switch, “where there are two switches on the other side of a room, these can turn a light on the same light on and off.”

Students Ava Prewett and Summer Seabird came for their PACE— professional and community experience—class. Both are interested in careers in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and this showed them another way to get involved now. Seabird stated, “Also just think it’s a great opportunity to learn about other things that are going around in our community” about PACE.

The first group finished in two minutes and thirty seconds, one student exclaiming, “Yo, we got this,” However, the second group struggled for seven minutes and forty seconds to finally escape. In the midst of the chaos, one volunteer asked what steps they took only to receive this dreaded response, “we pushed the red button!” No matter how long it to complete, students valued the opportunity and it encouraged them to learn from applicable challenges.

Another student who signed up was Ryan Suckow. He stated he tried it to, “get a career perspective on things,” Suckow is intrigued by the salary for beginning electricians and the idea of jumping straight into trade school.

An artistic trade, Meyer stated that electrical engineering is for anyone of any age or gender. It is so important for high school students to get involved with their interests, and possible future careers and this escape room was just one-way Fossil’s students got involved.