What do Leonardo da Vinci, Montel Williams, Alfred Hitchcock and Herbert Hoover have in common? According to http://www.engineeringk12.org, they were all engineers.

Little-known facts like these cropped up during National Engineers Week, which ends today. The event, founded in 1951, provides a chance to teach non-engineers about engineering, said Kelly Kaufman, junior civil and environmental engineering major. Senior electrical and computer engineering Jon Obergefell said the week helped to 'dispel myths and stereotypes of engineers.'

Engineers are often viewed as being excessively studious and socially inept. Kaufman says that is not true. Engineers are much more rounded; they participate in service clubs and are active in their communities, she said.

UD has participated in Engineers Week for many years, but this year the School of Engineering has taken a different approach. Hayley Ryckman, junior civil and environmental engineering major, said that in the past, engineering professors planned events for Engineers Week. This year, the events were completely student-planned.

In the past few years, Engineers Week on UD's campus was failing in student participation, according to Obergefell.

'It was viewed as a formal event,' he said.

By having engineering students head up the events, Kaufman hoped to 'revive the spirit of Engineers Week.'

Ryckman said planning the events was a learning experience for the engineering students. This was apparent in the golf scramble. Kaufman said each engineering department was involved in designing the holes for the indoor putt-putt golf course. Ryckman said the departments 'upped the ante with sand traps and tubes.' Gift cards were also given away in the raffle held during the scramble.

Some of the highlights of Engineers Week included a 'Penny War' held Monday, when the different engineering departments competed to see who received the most money, and an igloo building contest Wednesday.

According to a press release, the 'Penny War' raised money for Relay for Life. The golf scramble, with its $3 admission fee, helped to finance ETHOS, an engineering service club. ETHOS goes to developing countries and helps citizens improve their way of life, Kaufman said. Another event, the Order of the Engineer., was a formal ceremony held Thursday where 'graduating seniors and working engineers' took an oath to use engineering to do good and received a ring to represent the vow they made.

Kaufman, Obergefell and Ryckman all said a student-led Engineers Week for 2008 was a definite possibility. The events helped to take engineering students' 'minds off the stress of classes,' Ryckman said. Kaufman said it was a learning experience and there are already ideas for next year's event.