The usual sounds of shopping at North Grand Mall, 2801 Grand Ave., were accompanied by another sound on Saturday: children laughing and learning.

Iowa State’s sixth annual Engineering Day at the Mall was held, and featured a number of student engineering organizations spread throughout the mall. Booths were set up that displayed their work and showed children the practical and fun side of engineering.

“We got contacted, thought it’d be really fun, and came out here,” said Brandon Hawver, sophomore in mechanical engineering. Hawver is the mechanical director of Team PrISUm, a team that builds and races a solar-powered car each year. The frame of the car and a few solar cells and batteries were on display.

“We wanted to get the word out about solar cars, teach people about alternative energy, stuff like that,” he said.

Brian Harry, junior in construction engineering, had similar reasons for showing up.

Harry is a member of Iowa State’s student chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, and manned a booth at the mall Saturday. The group’s prominent attraction was a tall tower made out of an Erector Set with extra parts for the kids to add on.

“This event brings out future engineers and they get to show off their creativity with our display,” he said. “It also helps that we get a chance to talk to them and let them know what our program is all about.”

All of the booths seemed to draw people in, although a few people were more interested than others. Daniel Talbert, 12, came with his family all the way from Marshalltown.

“We came knowing that the Engineering Day was going to be here,” he said. “It’s the reason we came.”

Talbert is already on track to be an engineer; he participated in the Iowa FIRST LEGO League Championship this January and knows what he wants to be when he grows up.

“Engineering is sort of this dream that I have. My dad is an industrial engineer, and I like engineering,” Talbert said.

Feelings such as these were the goal of Engineering Day at the Mall. North Grand Mall is a big supporter of the university, and showed its support this weekend by hosting the event. The engineering students felt the day was worth it if just one child leaves the mall thinking about a future in engineering.

“We hope that they join when they get to ISU. It starts out with the LEGOs and the K’NEX sets at home, and if they can come here and see it on a larger scale, then hopefully, eventually, they’ll decide to join the College of Engineering,” Harry said.

While there could be some sort of pride at play in an event like this, or that the organizations would compete over who attracts the most students to their program, but they all seem to have come to an understanding about it.

“If the kids join any program, I’ll be happy,” Hawver said.

The children aren’t the only ones learning, however. Some of the students are surprisingly pleased with how much the children know already, and Harry sees it as a good omen for the future.

“These kids have a lot of smarts,” Harry said. “For example, you see that one part of the tower that sticks out? One kid came by, I’d guess he was about 10 years old. He saw that it was sagging, and made a support for it.

“People our age would think that’s common sense, but for their age? That’s a bit more of a leap.”