For the last four years, WaterWorks 2011 has sponsored a bid competition for juniors in the Stranahan High School Science/Pre-Engineering Magnet Program. For the contest, students must prepare a mock construction bid package for a WaterWorks sewer construction project. The program allows students to become more familiar with WaterWorks as they learn about the ‘real world’ of engineering and cost estimating.

 

About a dozen Stranahan seniors who participated in the bid competition last year, were invited to the WaterWorks 2011 Program Management Office on Wednesday, March 5, for an informal business luncheon.

   “It’s the year they’re going to college,” said Annachiara d’Ettorre, a WaterWorks construction manager who has served as coordinator for the bid competition for the last three years. According to d’Ettorre, the luncheon was an opportunity for students to ask industry experts about topics that will help them as they take the next step to becoming an engineer.

   The WaterWorks’ staff offered the students many practical suggestions for becoming a successful engineer. Among them were mastering time management, writing well and joining engineering organizations.

   Students were very appreciative of the time the staff spent talking with them. They also enjoyed being a part of the bid competition last year.

 

     “It made us understand what [WaterWorks’ engineers] go through,” said Domenique Lumpkin, 17, who would like to pursue a career as a civil engineer. “We worked really hard.”

    “It was a wake up call,” said Jose Zavala. The 17-year-old explained that the bid competition provided a very “real-world” glimpse into engineering. Zavala would like to attend the engineering program at Georgia Institute of Technology, d’Ettorre’s alma mater. 

 

The bid competition made Patrick Campbell, 18, realize that he was not interested in civil engineering. Instead, he would like to become an electrical engineer.

For Cloyd Jack, 17, who has already been accepted to the engineering program at Florida Atlantic University, the bid competition reaffirmed his desire to become an engineer. “I like the fact that (the competition allowed) you to get down and solve problems. I like to solve problems,” he said.
 
And that, according to Schwarz, is one of the traits of a successful engineer. “Your value to a company,” Schwarz said, “is how you can solve problems.”