2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

CAMINO is a STEM program designed to promote career advancement, provide mentorship, give inspiration, and offer opportunities for K-12 Hispanic students located in East Tennessee. As part of the educational component of an NSF CAREER grant, the program launched in 2021 and is a collaboration between a research group from the University of Tennessee and one of the high schools with the largest Hispanic populations in the Knoxville Metropolitan area. These students from minority backgrounds may limit their aspirations and may not pursue higher education and/or professional development for numerous reasons, such as limited motivation, insufficient exposure to higher education, and unawareness of available resources and assistance. These students in their families might lack an academic role model or mentor that can provide insight or a different perspective regarding careers and higher education. CAMINO seeks to decrease these barriers by integrating four key components: pre-college engineering fundamentals, hands-on engineering projects, a mentoring scheme, and early exposure to college educational outreach programs. These components are designed to nurture and inspire students, fostering their exploration of potential areas of development, and enhancing their understanding of engineers' significant impact on their daily lives. The program has had a positive impact on the students by increasing their interest in STEM fields, motivating them to engage in engineering activities, and embracing the opportunity to pursue higher education, regardless of their backgrounds.

This article describes CAMINO and examines the challenges, presents successful stories, and discusses the opportunities encountered during the first three years of operation. For engagement purposes, the program has used a main engineering project during the school year: the design and construction of a hydropower generator. This paper describes the progression of the project, starting with the basic concepts of electromagnetism and induction principle, going through to the design process using Fusion 360, and culminating in a 3D-printed prototype that includes a Pelton turbine and a 4-pole synchronous machine. CAMINO incorporates mentorship and guidance for pre-college Hispanic students, and it can offer valuable insights for replicating similar initiatives in other educational settings.