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To the ACEC Community,
I recently read a story in the Wall Street Journal about newly minted graduates being “unprepared” for the workplace. The article went into detail about how many young workers – the very ones we are looking to hire – lack the very basic skills needed to perform certain roles. The piece called out engineering as particularly hard hit, noting that scores for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam fell by about 10 percent during COVID. As more of our member firms report turning down work due to workforce shortages (56 percent in our most recent ACEC Research Institute sentiment survey), statistics like these are a call to action.
We are answering the call on multiple fronts. Workforce is a priority issue for our advocacy team, and we are working on several short and long-term legislative fixes to increase the flow of qualified engineers into the marketplace. Aside from legislation, the Executive Committee will soon vote on forming a Workforce Committee, and we are close to launching an online mentoring program spearheaded by the Fellows Committee and our Young Professionals that will link young engineers with experienced firm executives.
Another solution is ACE Mentor - an after-school program that connects high school students interested in careers in architecture, construction, and/or engineering with accomplished professionals within those fields. Like the name implies, these professionals serve as mentors throughout the student’s high school and college years, establishing an early career network within the industry.
More than 10,000 students and 4,000 mentors (some of them from our very own MOs) participate in the program each year, working together as a team on a mock project. Through this exercise, students learn directly from architects, engineers, construction management, and tradespeople, gaining insight into these industries. This is a practical and achievable step we can take to shore up the future STEM pipeline. We want more students to choose engineering as a career. Here’s where we can help lay the foundation.
But we also can start laying that foundation even earlier. With school resuming over the next few weeks, expect to see stories about “summer slide,” the tendency of students to return to school in the fall with achievement levels lower than they were at the beginning of summer vacation. A recent study of elementary school students showed an average loss of about 27 percent of their school year gains in math. For children from disadvantaged backgrounds, that number is far higher, and more likely to snowball throughout the child’s school career.
These statistics on summer slide – which have worsened considerably post-COVID – are sobering, and they would seem to indicate that keeping younger students on track in math and science needs to be a parallel priority for our industry. Too many of the 10-year-olds who “slid” this summer will become the 17-year-olds who are afraid of or intimidated by STEM subjects.
So, I would suggest this: be a resource! Take a page from our own former Board Chair Charlie Gozdziewski, who stepped in at his daughter’s elementary school as a guest speaker. Charlie gave his daughter’s students a history of bridges and provided examples on the basics of bridge design and construction. They were captivated by it.
How many of those students left school that day with the necessary spark to pursue a career in engineering? We’ll never know unless we get engaged. So, dust off that TI-89 calculator and offer to help your kids’ friends if they need it. You’ll be doing a great service to that student, and ultimately, to our industry.
Have a great week,
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