College welcomes MDOT Youth Development and Mentoring Program students to campus

DETROIT (Aug. 1, 2012) - Participants in the Michigan Department of Transportation Youth Development and Mentoring Program (MDOT YDMP) visited the Wayne State University College of Engineering on July 17 to learn more about careers in engineering.

MDOT YDMP is an eight-week summer program that prepares students ages 16-18 for college and the workforce. The program takes students on college campus tours, helps them gain interviewing and team-building skills, and offers mentoring. Students are paid by the State of Michigan for roadside cleanup and are recruited from Oakland, Macomb and Wayne county high schools.

The 85 participants who visited the college watched an engineering admissions presentation from Casey Rue, academic services officer, and had the opportunity to ask a panel of engineering students questions about their academic experience.

The high school students also learned about extracurricular activities at the college from civil engineering students Stephanie Boileau and Paul Chabot. Boileau and Chabot spoke about the College of Engineering's involvement in the American Society of Civil Engineering's Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions. MDOT YDMP participants were able to see not only the types of materials used in construction of the steel bridge and concrete canoe, but the finished products as well.

"This tour really opened the students' eyes to the many civil engineering opportunities that Wayne State has to offer," said DeAnte Thompkins, workforce technician of MDOT's Metro Region and director of the YDMP program. "The students now have aspirations to further their education in the civil engineering field."

More photos are available on the college's Flickr site.

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Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 31,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.