Determined to help students see - in the organization's words - that "Engineers Make a World of Difference," JETS administrators say they have sharpened their focus and reshaped their message to woo students who in the past may have missed out on all that JETS had to offer. A combination of new initiatives and a retooling of outreach efforts that have proven successful in the past make JETS 2007-08 programs its most expansive and inclusive ever.

For Leann Yoder, JETS executive director, it's about time. "We were a 57-year-old organization that looked and acted our age," says Yoder, who has overseen the reformulation of JETS outreach since 2004. "Keeping pace with today's students is a big challenge, but JETS is moving full speed ahead to update our image and increase the attention of young people from every background. The common thread of the engineering message resonating most often with students is how engineers help change things for the better. JETS programs have always shown the real-world side of engineering, but we are now ready to enhance this experience for students by showing them exactly what 'real-world' means."

To communicate this message, JETS has developed a new structure which will focus its competitions and resources into clearly defined categories leading students, parents, and educators down the path of career discovery: Explore, Assess, and Experience Engineering.

Among the changes will be a dramatic revamping and revitalizing of the JETS website at www.jets.org. Staid graphics will be replaced with a complete home page redesign that opens with the beat of techno music, participant photos, and content organized to directly tap into the interests and needs of young people, their parents, and educators.

"Explore" will feature video clips, extreme engineer interviews, and content covering more than 20 disciplines. By showing how engineering is at the core of everything from snowboard design to medical advances to suspension systems for Formula 1 racecars, students can discover how their interests can be turned into careers that truly suit them. Also housed in Explore will be the popular online newsletter, JETS Pre-Engineering Times, with highlights on young engineers, hot topics in engineering, and hands-on classroom activities which further elaborate the engineering message to its 20,000 monthly readers.

Assess, named after JETS' academic diagnostic tool, will also underscore how JETS is breaking away from the tired stereotype that only the best in math and science can be engineers. "For too long the message of engineering has been that if you don't excel in math and science, then you can't be an engineer," says Yoder. Of course, math and science are important, say JETS organizers, but so is the ability to visualize how objects look from different perspectives and thinking analytically by understanding processes and organizing concepts sequentially - critical skills in setting up experiments and planning work. According to The Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, these are two of the most important aptitudes for career success and enjoyment in those pursuing engineering.

Yoder says that emphasizing the humanitarian side of engineering broadens its appeal far beyond the math and science set. "We need a bigger appeal if we are going to grow the ranks of those ready to take on engineering studies," she notes. "The new approach with Assess is more attractive to girls, minorities, and other students who have these desired aptitudes but aren't considering engineering. This, in turn, will bring us a better pool of future engineering candidates."

The third component, Experience, presents a new outlook in JETS mainstays such as the annual TEAMS competition. The national one-day competition asks students to tackle challenges that run the gamut from developing scenarios for alternative fuels to designing life support systems for long range space missions.

Keeping TEAMS challenge questions relevant is more than just a matter of cleverness. Piquing the interests of a broader range of young people helped increase first time participation in the 2007 competition by 11 percent. Ten new host sites were added, and half of the TEAMS students surveyed said they will choose engineering as their college major. Yoder adds, "Changing the way we write scenarios brings home the idea that engineers make a difference."

Another major component of the new approach is a renewed push for NEDC, the National Engineering Design Competition, which asks students to use engineering to help people with disabilities enter or advance in the workplace. Again, the humanitarian side of engineering is used to broaden the profession's appeal.

Yoder says JETS has scheduled the new initiatives for 2007-08 to launch this September. "It's all about encouraging kids," she says, "not discouraging them."