WKSU Stories

Cleveland Hosts More Than 7,000 Students at Hispanic Engineers' Convention

Ideastream Public Media | By Kabir Bhatia

Published November 10, 2018 at 10:06 PM EST

Ysabel Camacho was at SHPE2018, recruiting for Eaton's Caribbean division. She says Hispanic STEM students should work to be confident in their ability to communicate with other engineers, even if English is not their first language.

More than 7,500 people were in Cleveland over the weekend for a gathering of Hispanic engineers and students.

The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) represents STEM professionals and students. The group held its annual convention in Cleveland this year, with attendance up about 15 percent over last year.

About 200 companies and universities were also there to recruit workers as well as students for graduate programs and internships. SHPE CEO Raquel Tamez says many Hispanic students are bilingual and that’s just one of several attributes recruiters like.

“That our students come here, that they’re prepared, that they’re energized, they’re passionate [and] they’re eager.”

Tamez says her group also used the convention to call on Hispanic STEM professionals to act as mentors for students, something she says is crucial to their success. SHPE is also holding science nights around the country in which entire families are invited for hands-on workshops about STEM fields.