Construction Career Days (CCD) was founded in 1999 as a nationwide educational outreach program designed to offer high school students an introduction to the career options that the AEC industry provides in a hands-on environment that can’t be provided in a classroom. With events in almost all 50 states and the acquiring of significant industry sponsors, including the Florida Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, CCD has left an impact on thousands of future engineers over its two decades of events.
This year, WGI participated in Northeast Florida’s 8th annual CCD, where our associates volunteered their time by giving students a feel for the construction field with engaging activities like operating heavy machinery and providing demonstrations such as the micro-design of a draw bridge.
The event hosted over 2500 students from across FDOT’s District 2, which includes 58 schools and 18 counties in Northeast Florida. WGI contributed several chaperones for the event that helped guide the groups of students through the learning labs and career exhibits that were on display. Eric Lanning, PM, worked tirelessly as the co-chair of the Chaperone Committee, which helped delegate the volunteers to specific groups and stations.
WGI’s Geospatial team was also in attendance with drone technology and Lidar survey equipment. Stephen Dees, PSM, Juan Ortiz, and Kaitlyn Maynard were responsible for one of the 48 different “Learning Labs” that were set up at the event in which the attendees got to experience real-life geospatial surveying capabilities and the application of Lidar-equipped drones in our industry. Other examples of Learning Labs that were present at the event were stations where students could experiment with transportation materials by making “Asphalt Cookies” and another where they got to construct lego racecars!
In the sun, students had the privilege of operating front-end-loaders, scissor lifts, and graders under the supervision of expert chaperones, and some were even lucky enough to take a ride over 50 feet in the air on a Bucket Loader.
At WGI, we believe deeply in the future generation of engineers and the impact that they will have on our industry and the world. We seek to inspire these future thinkers by embracing our core value of “Being the Change You Seek.” We try to embrace this core value by being proactive with our mentoring efforts and seeking new opportunities to educate each year.
Be The Change You Seek!
Does your current occupation lack meaning and depth? Are you interested in helping inspire and educate future engineers? Then check out our careers page to see what new opportunities await you here at WGI!
