Articles

Woodrow Wilson HS Civil Engineering Club 2018-2019

Jennifer Smith & Omar Venzor from ASCE Dallas continued the partnership with the 2018-2019 CE Club at Woodrow Wilson High School with Brandon Carver as the teacher.  The Woodrow Wilson CE Club in east Dallas had about 40 students stretching over three class periods.  The CE Club featured a robust curriculum that covers various aspects of civil engineering.  All year, the students were really engaging and looking forward to future presentations and field trips.  

Woodrow Wilson has 55 seniors graduating through the engineering program this year – over half of them are going into an engineering discipline in college, most of whom were in the CE Club. Of those 55 seniors, 13 are enrolling as (intended) Civil Engineering majors! Mr. Carver received great feedback from the students this year, with some of the presenters being the highlight of the year in the CE Club class.

In August, Jennifer and Omar gave a brief introduction and each talked about their educational and professional background.  They introduced the students to the ASCE structure and highlighted different events ASCE Dallas participates in such as the bridge building competition, Future Cities, Earth Day Dallas, and the CE Club.  They explain the role ASCE will fulfill within the CE Club and mentioned the benefits to the partnership including guest speakers, field trips, and attending an ASCE meeting.  They also mentioned the ASCE Dallas Scholarship and encouraged students to apply.  They closed their presentation with a TED talk and tower building competition.

Southern Methodist University ASCE Student Chapter

On Friday, September 28^th, 6 ASCE student members from Southern Methodist University (SMU) visited the Woodrow Wilson Civil Engineering club 3 classes.  The SMU students discussed life as a college student, the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, a general degree plan to earn a Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering, and how to balance studying with leadership and volunteering. The Woodrow Wilson students were fully engaged and had great questions.  Many of these SMU students attended the Dallas ASCE October luncheon – if you see them again, be sure to thank them for their educational outreach and encouraging high schoolers to study civil engineering. Special thanks to Ola Wenno, Sharon Yang, Gurveer Kaur, Sam Snyder, Arman Sanatinia, and Maddie Smithers!

Habitat for Humanity with Ashlyn Morgan

Ashlyn Morgan of Kimley Horn spoke to the Civil Engineering Club students at the Woodrow Wilson High School about Habitat for Humanity on Friday, October 29, 2018. This presentation was in preparation of the Habitat for Humanity build that the students had an opportunity to participate in on Saturday, November 10 (see below for more information on the event!).

Ashlyn discussed the mission and methods of Habitat for Humanity, such as the no-interest mortgage model, homeowner education and sweat equity hours, and other ways Dallas Habitat works in the community. She also talked about site development and construction (especially the key factors to consider when selecting residential lots, and different stages of site preparation and construction). 

Woodrow Wilson HS has three different Civil Engineering club classes. In the first two classes, Ashlyn led the students in a lot layout activity where the student groups drew different home-building objectives, such as “architecturally interesting” or “biggest footprint” and had to conform to given zoning guidelines. One class, however, didn’t participate in the activity because they had so many questions with Ashlyn that led to a conversation that lasted the whole class time! The students are so inquisitive and really enjoy learning from industry professionals.

Architecture with Corgan

Janah St. Luce, Erik Larsen, Mark Trance, JC Futterman-Baylon, and Tyler Mason from Corgan spoke to the CE Club students at Woodrow Wilson High School about architecture on November 2, 2018. 

The group began the presentation with a brief history of architecture.  They compared stone and brick buildings to more modern-day glass and steel buildings.  The discussion continued with examples of architecture beyond shelters, such as buildings housing art and museums.  They touched on the three E’s of architecture: education, experience, and exam.  They discussed the eight collegiate programs in the state of Texas and talked about study abroad opportunities in both South Korea and Rome.  The group explained the experience required to become a licensed architect and the six exams required.  They finished the presentation with a video that challenges architects to think outside the box when designing for the future. 

Habitat for Humanity Build

Ashlyn Kelbly, PE of Kimley-Horn, and a Habitat for Humanity Core Volunteer helped organize a build day for the Woodrow Wilson CE Club students in south Dallas on November 10, 2018. Omar Venzor, ASCE Dallas CE Club Co-Chair, volunteered from 8 am to 3 pm with the CE Club students.  The group of 15 students included ten from Woodrow Wilson and five from Hillcrest High School. The students spent the day helping finish the roof and siding all around a four bedroom house under construction. The students got to climb on ladders, nail siding panels, and do lots and lots of nailing and those over 18 even got to use a nail gun and saw!

At lunch time, the students asked lots of questions about home construction.  We hope to have another build day with more CE Club students in the spring!

Engineers Without Borders with Julie Jones

Julie Jones from Nathan D. Maier spoke to the CE Club students at Woodrow Wilson High School about Engineers Without Borders on November 30, 2018. 

Julie highlighted a EWB project she assisted with in Bolivia.  She mentioned most EWB projects incorporate providing clean drinking water to remote villages around the world.  The group that traveled to Bolivia had the opportunity to practice their Spanish and meet the community and get their feedback.  The group assisted with building a base map using GPS that would identify major roads, limits of the community, schools, and other important landmarks.  The group helped develop a water distribution system that would be built in phases depending on funding. 

We thank Julie for speaking to the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club.

Traffic Engineering with Urban Engineers Group

Omar Venzor of Urban Engineers Group talked with the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club students about traffic engineering on Friday, January 11th.   He outlined what it takes to become a traffic engineer, including the licensing requirements. Students were also shown that they could work for either public organizations such as cities, counties, airports, and TxDOT or private corporations that do consulting work.

Next, Omar explained the types of projects that traffic engineers work on. The students were shown the reports that are produced from traffic studies that determine the existing conditions and capacity at a location, as well as future analysis to determine what improvements should be made to achieve a prescribed level of service. They also discussed signal timing, signing, and pavement marking design, ITS design, and roadway illumination.  The students got to review a traffic signal plan set for a signal that has already been built.

The Places You Can Go As a Civil Engineer with Jerry Jackson of Provident Realty

Jerry Jackson of Provident Realty presented to the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club students about The Places You Can Go As a Civil Engineer. Jerry discussed how his career began with construction work experience in constructing culverts, dams, lakes, and bridges in the Dallas area.  Later, he moved to Florida where he gained experience in marine construction by constructing docks, piers, and even a floating concrete dock! He then moved back to Dallas and entered the real estate industry and oversaw the construction of retail malls, high rise office buildings, and condominiums.

Jerry talked about the importance of giving back to one’s community, both locally and abroad and shared pictures and stories of mission trips he had been on with his family where they helped build extensions to homes in Antigua, Guatemala.

Jerry continued to grab the students attention with international travel as he described his work in Qatar where he oversaw the construction of the 1,000 acre man-man island, “The Pearl” that features 50 high rise buildings, 20 miles of coastline, an underground trash collection system, and the largest district cooling plant in the world… all with a budget of $18 Billion!

Most recently, Jerry has been involved in the construction of Preston Hollow Village and local apartments. His stories of all the fun and exciting experiences you can have as a civil engineer, has convinced more students to pursue an education and career in civil engineering. Thanks for sharing your time and passion with Woodrow, Jerry!

Structural Engineering with LA Fuess Partners

Francisco Estrada and Nick Prather from L.A. Fuess Partners spoke to the CE Club students at Woodrow Wilson High School about structural engineering on February 8, 2018.  

Francisco and Nick gave the students an overview of the engineering process. They talked to the students about lateral forces and the impact different types of connections have on structures. Their presentation concluded with a group activity where the students built structures out of spaghetti, marshmallows, and gumdrops. The students were tasked with building a tall structure that could withstand earthquake like forces.

We thank Francisco & Nick for speaking to the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club.  If you are interested in speaking to the CE Club please contact Jennifer Smith ([email protected]) or Omar Venzor ([email protected]).

Engineering and Business with Hilti

Alexis Clark from Hilti visited the Woodrow Wilson High School CE Club to present on Engineering and Business on Friday, March 1, 2019.

Alexis discussed the relationship between engineering and business and how going into engineering doesn’t always mean working at a computer and doing design work, like many other presenters do. She also described “A Day in the Life as a Field Engineer”. She discussed the day-to-day tasks, as well as the bigger picture of the role. The students were interested to learn about Alexis’ job but also the products and services that Hilti offers, and how they are implemented into the built world around us. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to visit the CE Club, Alexis!

Environmental Engineering with LCA Environmental

Mark Boyd of LCA Environmental, and the current ASCE Dallas Branch Past-President, spoke to the CE Club students at Hillcrest and Woodrow Wilson High Schools about water resources and environmental engineering. The discussion started off with a run through the water cycle, including evaporation, condensation, precipitation, groundwater, surface water, and surface run off. Mark then had the students consider surface run off specifically. They were asked to list off what could be contained in surface run off and how do engineers need to handle and treat that water.

Mark then had a great group activity for the students to perform an improptu water quality risk assessment. The classroom was split up into teams, and each team had to evaluate the purity of ten different water samples with varying levels of contamination. Some samples had obvious bits of dirt, particles, and oil floating in them, while others appeared to be perfectly clear and “clean”. The students were tasked with ranking the ten samples in order of their own concept of “cleanliness”. Afterwards, Mark would reveal to the students the true ranking of the samples based on mandated requirements for drinking water.

If you are interested in speaking to the CE Club please contact Jennifer Smith ([email protected]) or Omar Venzor ([email protected]).