By Debbie Hampton
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is conducting its annual Summer High School Transportation Institute (STI), now in its 30th year.
STI, offered through the North Carolina A&T Transportation Institute in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics, is introducing 15 high school students to career opportunities in the public and private sectors of transportation and supply chain management. The program focuses on demonstrating how different transportation professions use STEM skills and familiarizes the students with the various industries and modes of transportation – from air to highway and from rail to water.
Deese College Associate Dean Danielle Winchester, Ph.D., told STI participants they are on the fast track of an in-demand career path and encouraged them to continue their education at A&T, noting the college boasts 100 percent job placement every year for graduates concentrating in supply chain management.
“As we all know, transportation touches every facet of our daily lives in very important ways as the supply chain issues have highlighted over the past couple of years during the pandemic,” said Transportation Institute Director Rachel Liu, Ph.D. “Transportation is a highly viable education and career path for these students to follow.”
This years’ STI, which began July 11 and runs through Aug. 5, is in-person for the first time in two years. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 schedules were abbreviated and held virtually. This year’s four-week nonresidential program consists of classroom lectures, personal development workshops and field trips to the Port of Wilmington, Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina Transportation Museum, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, several locations in Washington, D.C., and more to see transportation in action.
Students also participate in English and math SAT preparation classes, learn basic computer coding and practice presentation and public speaking skills.
“Each year, we aspire to offer a robust program that introduces students to existing and emerging technologies in the transportation industry. We are excited to have the program in person this year and give the students the full STI experience,” said Nicholas Allen, who became the STI project director and program manager for the Transportation Institute in August of 2021.
Kynan Hudson and Michelle Sims are the STI academic coordinators leading the group of North Carolina 11th and 12th graders: five from Greensboro, three from High Point, and one each from Elon, Gibsonville, Haw River, Kernersville, Mebane and Whitsett.
To qualify for the program, students had to have a minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale, submit a typed 250-word essay conveying their interest in attending, how they believe it will help them advance their education and career goals and commit to attend every day of the program. Each student receives a weekly stipend and a certificate of completion.
The Federal Highway Administration, North Carolina Department of Transportation and Center for Advanced Transportation Mobility sponsor STI in partnership with the university’s Transportation Institute to not only recruit talented young people to the industry, but also increase minority and female representation in its workforce.
