Employees highlight careers at Antioch Middle School STEAM event

ANTIOCH, Tenn. (Sept. 9, 2024) – Employees showed off their displays, provided demonstrations, and highlighted their careers last week during a sanctioned Tennessee STEAM Festival event at Antioch Middle School. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders learned about opportunities to pursue careers with the Corps of Engineers that require studies focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

Alyssa Cruz, team instructional coach at Antioch Middle School, said STEAM materials are part of the curriculum and teachers make it part of the culture. She said it’s very beneficial to partner and collaborate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District so students can truly be excited about STEAM careers and explore what possibilities they have within their own state and their own communities.

During the day’s activities Sept. 5, 2024, hundreds of students rotated between presenters in the gymnasium and outdoors surrounding the athletic field. The presentations were modeled to allow kids to have hands-on activities to maintain their interest and promote learning.

“Students had no idea some of these careers even existed and they could do it,” Cruz said. “I feel like what the Corps did this year, with more hands-on presentations, resulted in students being more engaged and asking questions.”

Cruz said the Corps of Engineers’ participation is recognized as a sanctioned event in the annual Tennessee STEAM Festival. Students benefit because they are exposed to many opportunities that exist that are related to these subjects, and there are many careers that are available in an organization like the Nashville District, she explained.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District members showcased a command-and-control vehicle that provides emergency response teams with network connectivity and communications for forward-deployed emergency response personnel. Corps employees also operated an underwater remote operated vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle with light detection and ranging capabilities, and engaged each group about hydropower, flood risk reduction, natural resources management, geology, biology, navigation, and boating and water safety.

Kyle Tanner, Dive Program coordinator in the Maintenance Section, operated a remote operated vehicle (ROV) in a small pool of water, while Nate Brock, unmanned aircraft system pilot in the Survey Mapping Section, flew a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) drone above the school’s football field. Both involved using a joystick, something that drew the attention of lots of kids that love to play video games.

Old Hickory Lake Park Ranger Giovanny Espinoza interacted with students in both English and Spanish at a bird identification station that prompted them to play a game to identify three types of birds in Tennessee. These included birds that eat insects and seeds; those that eat fish and meat; and then woodpeckers.

“I think it is interesting to see that some of the kids got more excited than others at first, but once they saw that they could understand that some of the common birds that they see are easily identifiable, they kind of participated a little bit more and more, and then were a competitive group at the end,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza graduated with an environment and sustainability degree with natural resource management, and enjoyed sharing his love and knowledge of birds with the students. In a small way, it may lead some of the students to pursue a similar career path and passion,” he said.

“Being able to teach younger kids is super important to me,” Espinoza added.

Sixth grader Jorge Lopez took time to identify birds with Espinoza and said he loved participating in the STEAM presentations, especially seeing the patrol boat and ROV underwater demonstration.

“I really liked them to be honest,” Lopez said. “They really seemed pretty cool.”

Lopez said he has an interest in animation, but found learning about these different career opportunities gives him possible other options as he continues his education.

Eighth grader Priyana Gurung had an interest with talking to Economist Annaliese Winton, who presented a water management project scenario with students where they could determine if the project should be funded or not.

Gurung said she voted yes on the project given its benefits, and she felt the presentation provided a unique perspective about the cost of protecting communities.

Winton said the main role of an economist is to analyze the cost and benefits of different projects to understand if the Corps of Engineers is being efficient in how the organization spends appropriated funds. She said most of the students that participated voted yes like Gerung did, given the factors and information they were provided to make a decision.

“I think it’s helped them to understand the importance of flood risk mitigation, given the impacts of the project,” Winton said.

Civil Engineer Marc Dolder, who supports the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project with the Integrated Project Office on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, spent the day with students teaching them about concrete testing and what it takes to be certified. He said a lot of the kids had no idea they could make a good living doing this work on the Corps’ huge infrastructure construction projects.

“We talked about the importance of testing the projects we are currently working on where we have hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of concrete, and how we test it to make sure that it is uniform throughout,” Dolder said.

Students were able to perform a slump test as an activity using sand and gravel to simulate concrete. This exercise taught them how to measure the consistency and workability of fresh concrete by determining how much it settles inside of a cone once the cone is actually removed. The test is performed to ensure that concrete batches are of consistent quality and strength, and to identify defects in the mix before it's poured.

“Overall it went really well. We had a steady flow of students performing the test themselves,” Dolder added. “I really enjoyed the kids that grasped ahold of it. They wanted to know a lot more about it and saw it as a viable and potential career path.

John Baird, Operations Section natural resources specialist; Tiffany Hines, Hydropower Section maintenance engineer; and the Leadership Development Course Level Two participants led Nashville District’s initiative to partner with Antioch Middle School. About 50 employees took part in showing and telling what they do and answering questions posed by students interested in careers, education required for particular careers, and even pay possibilities with different jobs.

Topics covered included Flood risk reduction, hydropower, navigation, geology, natural resources, diving operations, mapping/drone operations, water quality, contracting, wildlife, safety, emergency management, construction, landscape architecture, contracting, project management to include cost benefits, and engineering.

Baird said hundreds of students and other community members were reached during this educational engagement. It is the second year the Corps of Engineers has partnered with Antioch Middle School, and the event grew and went smoother this year, he added.

“One major positive is that the school wants to expand their relationship with the Corps and to be involved in other events,” Baird said. “Sometimes its hard to get a school excited about being a partner. This is a great relationship, and we are working with school officials to share our technical and vocational expertise and career opportunities with teachers and students.”

Although the Tennessee STEAM Festival officially takes place Oct. 11-27, 2024, this qualified as a sanctioned event that brings science, technology, engineering, art, and math to life. The festival aspires to build interest and excitement in STEAM, and cultivate the next generation of citizen and professional science advocates and practitioners by leveraging local partnerships from across the region. More information about the festival is available at https://www.tnsteam.org/ .

Story by Lee Roberts. The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/ , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on X (formerly Twitter) at www.x.com/nashvillecorps . Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district .