
Civiltech loves inspiring future engineers! Earlier this month, we welcomed Township High School District 214 students Joel Ross and April Toyofuku for a 30-hour internship. Joel is a Senior at Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, and April is a Senior at Buffalo Grove High School in Buffalo Grove.
Civiltech prepared four full days of learning sessions including presentations and hands-on activities. Topics covered all phases of engineering, transportation planning, landscape architecture, marketing, knowledge management, and career preparedness. The interns also had the opportunity to dig into some of the computer programs used by Civiltech teams, and they visited active construction sites.
In addition to Joel and April learning about the Transportation Engineering and Transportation Planning industry, we got to learn more about them! These engaging and inquisitive young adults prove that the future of engineering is in good hands.
Joel is interested in pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering and has his sights set on the University of Illinois. When asked about the Civiltech Internship, he stated that he found the traffic light systems work most interesting and enjoyed getting to visit a Tollway construction site. Joel also said that he was surprised to learn about the phases of engineering and the extent of study, planning, and design that go into the construction of an intersection or street. Lastly, he said he gained an appreciation of the background work involved in the construction of transportation related projects.
April is heading into her Senior year of high school but has her eyes on Transportation Engineering as a degree path in college. She is considering applying to the University of Illinois and Purdue University to pursue her degree. April stated that she enjoyed learning about Civiltech’s water resources work as it demonstrates the problem-solving skills required in engineering. She also enjoyed visiting a Tollway project construction site saying it was amazing to view the size of the project and how all of the project’s components come together in construction. April shared that prior to the Civiltech internship, she was unaware of the planning and work that goes into a single road or bridge project and that the opportunity to understand the entire process was eye-opening.
Civiltech is grateful that Joel and April chose us for their internship, and we are certain they will be an integral part of the future of engineering and an asset to the industry. We wish them the best of luck in their ongoing education and future careers!