N.C. A&T Hosts 27th Summer Transportation Institute

N.C. A&T Hosts 27th Summer Transportation Institute

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 6, 2019) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has completed its 27^th Summer High School Transportation Institute (STI).

STI, offered through the North Carolina A&T State University Transportation Institute in the College of Business and Economics (COBE), introduced 14 high school students to career opportunities in the public and private sectors of transportation and supply-chain management. It also demonstrated how STEM skills are used in the field, identified industries and detailed modes of transportation – from air to highway and from rail to water.

“Each year we strive to develop a robust program that exposes our participants to evolving technologies and innovations in the transportation industry,” said Teresa McRae, who celebrated her first full year as STI director and program manager for the N.C. A&T Transportation Institute in July.

The five-and-a-half-week nonresidential program consisted of classroom lectures, personal development workshops and field trips to the J. Douglas Galyon Depot, which serves as the main passenger transfer area for Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA), North Carolina Port of Wilmington, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Tampa, Florida to see transportation in action.

Students also participated in SAT preparation and took a college English course for credit that can be “banked” toward enrollment at N.C. A&T or transferred to another university.

STI concluded this year with a new activity – a group project competition styled after the television show “Shark Tank” where students proposed ideas for addressing current transportation-related problems and pitched them to a panel of four industry professionals. Each of the four students on the winning team received a $50 gift card.

Kynan Hudson and Michelle Sims, in their first year as STI academic coordinators, led the group of 11^th and 12^th graders, nine from Greensboro and one each from Browns Summit, Reidsville, Raleigh and Jacksonville, Florida.

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 expressing their interest in attending STI and how they feel it will help them advance their education and career goals, and commit to attend STI every day of the program. Each student received a weekly stipend and a certificate of completion.

Kevin Elwood, GTA marketing and communications manager, praised STI and everyone involved in it. “All forms of transportation work together to keep our economy moving,” he said at the STI closing ceremony Aug. 2.

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 representation in its workforce.

“Transportation is everywhere and touches every single thing you do,” said Transportation Institute director Dr. Maranda McBride said at the Aug. 2 ceremony.

COBE associate dean Dr. Lisa Owens-Jackson said participants are on the fast track of a hot career path, noting the college boasts 100 percent job placement every year for supply chain management graduates.