Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, participated in the McAllister Elementary School Career Day, in Richmond Hill, Georgia, Feb. 9, 2024.
The team consisted of Col. Ron Sturgeon, USACE, Savannah District, commander; deputy commander, Lt. Col. Alex Duffy; archeologist, Andrea Farmer; biologist, Madison Monroe and structural engineer, Steven Taylor.
The school’s annual career day is designed to showcase a wide variety of jobs to the students, providing them with a better understanding of the many career options they can pursue in the future according to Julie McNeely, a counselor at McAllister Elementary.
“The Army Corps of Engineers has been volunteering every year since we started nine years ago,” said McNeely. “They are a great addition to our career fair. Their jobs are of high interest to our students, so it is great to have them come out and talk with our kids about their careers.”
Savannah District volunteers met with students from second to fifth grade in the school’s gymnasium and educated them on the mission of the Savannah District and its contributions to infrastructure, archeology, flood control, and environmental restoration.
“We have many science, technology, and engineering career paths within our organization,” said Farmer. “It is wonderful to get to talk to students about those jobs and see the excitement that the children have as they are learning about them.”
At the Corps’ booth, students eagerly asked questions and interacted with the items on display.
“We brought several artifacts from the Civil War era that help us discuss the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project,” said Farmer. “It demonstrates the cultural resources work we did to investigate shipwrecks and other archeological sites that were in the river before it was deepened [in 2023].”
Duffy, who is a father of a second-grade student attending McAllister Elementary, reflected on the value of engaging children at the career fair.
“This type of outreach event is important because it allows us to connect with students at a very young age and get them excited about our career field,” said Duffy.
In addition to learning about career paths, the students received a hands-on lesson in stormwater management.
The Savannah District team brought a plastic wetlands model with houses, cars, roadways and waterways, sprinkling it with Kool-Aid powder to simulate chemicals. Students sprayed the model with water to simulate a rainstorm, pushing the chemicals into wildlife habitat.
“The students love spraying the model with the water bottles and seeing the water take the path of least resistance, while they learn how we can better conduct ourselves environmentally as a society moving forward,” said Taylor.