A yellow school bus filled with high school STEM students from the San Marcos Unified School District arrived early at the San Diego Convention Center on Jan. 31 to experience a hands-on, behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the making and selling of electronics at the IPC (Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits) APEX EXPO 2019.

  During the Q and A session with the panel, students learned about how they could get a jump-start into the field of electrical engineering. The room whirred and buzzed with excitement after learning about IPC’s upcoming credential program that will be made available to high school students in the fall.

  “Students can put these credentials on their resume and profiles and call these guys and say ‘by the way, I saw you on the panel; are you hiring for the summer, because I’ve already been trained’,” said Dr. John W. Mitchell, President and CEO of IPC.

  Growing up, Mitchell didn’t envision himself leading conventions for IPC such as the APEX EXPO. However, introducing young engineers to various beneficial opportunities for their futures definitely piqued his interest.

  The theme of the day—to engage and learn from people at all stages of manufacturing and selling of electrical technologies—was best put to words by the Director of Technology Transfer at IPC, Chris Jorgensen, who humorously discouraged untied hair during the soldering demo by tucking away his long beard.

   “Learn anything you can. Knowledge is never wasted,” Jorgensen said.

  Light bulbs went off throughout the day as each student engaged with engineers, programmers, company representatives and marketers.