Education To Go: The Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering Trailblazer awaits another round of students Sept. 1 at Oak Dale Elementary School. The trailer is a traveling science exhibit geared to pique students' interest in science and engineering.

Innovative educators will go to great lengths to pique students' curiosity.

Members of the Texas Association for Minorities in Engineering, in conjunction with the Don Harrington Discovery Center, have taken it upon themselves to try and recruit more women and minorities into the science and engineering fields, according to Jodee Cazarez, education coordinator for the Discovery Center.

To aid in the recruiting, TAME is traveling to various area elementary schools with a 40-foot trailer housing science and engineering exhibits. The purpose of the TAME Trailblazer, as the trailer is called, is to offer hands-on activities to increase student interest in science and engineering, according to TAME information.

Up to 30 students at a time are allowed to examine the exhibits during a 25-minute tour through the Trailblazer. The activities are aimed at fourth- through eighth graders.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School was the first stop on the circuit Aug. 31, and students greeted the project with excitement and enthusiasm.

"It's amazing," Cazarez said. "Last year and this year the kids have really responded well. They've really enjoyed themselves.

"Each station is different," she said. "They give examples of all the things you can do in that branch of engineering. Engineering is not always thought of as a very glamorous profession. They (kids) just don't know what it is an engineer does. They think all they do is drive trains."

The exhibit featured displays including the power of weather and the strength of waves, the need for speed, which explained what an automotive engineer does, the miracle of medicine for scientists and many more. The organization's Web site www.tame.org offers much more information for aspiring engineers or scientists.

Trailblazer is manned by volunteers, Cazarez said.

"We have volunteers from the Discovery Center and Amarillo College," she said. "The AC volunteers are from the various engineering programs."

Brett Watson, a fifth-grader at PV, couldn't get from one exhibit to the next fast enough. He was trying to absorb as much as he could in the short time he had in the trailer.

"If you're a scientist, you get to see old dinosaur bones," Watson said. "You get to see and learn things you've never heard of before. And, you get to observe people and molecules."

The young Einstein explained this as he peered through a microscope at a blood sample.

"It looks like a long nail," he said.

Kayla Anderson, also a fifth-grader, stopped at a model of the solar system and named and pointed to each of the planets that revolve around the sun.

"I like to study the world," she said. "It's fascinating. I'm going to be a pediatrician when I grow up."

Might as well shoot for the stars.

Future scientist Anthony Bitela said he is an experimenter.

"I like the experiments you get to do and what you find out when you do them," he said.