ASCE Dallas Members Help Judge Final Presentations for Hillcrest High School

ASCE Dallas has sponsored a Civil Engineering Club at Hillcrest High School for the past two years, bringing in speakers throughout the school year to give formal presentations and lead group activities for students enrolled in the Civil Engineering and Architect Design class at Hillcrest. The Engineering Academy at Hillcrest High School also has an Engineering Design and Development (EDD) class that is the capstone course in the Engineering Academy. It is an engineering research course in which students work in teams to design and develop an original solution to a valid open-ended technical problem by applying the engineering design process.

The teacher at Hillcrest, Diane Combs, reached out to ASCE Dallas through her contacts in the CE Club Program soon after the stay-at-home order was implemented in Dallas County. She let them know that she was in desperate need of help because the quarantine has caused a major shift in the scheduling of their final presentations. In the past, the students would present in front of at least 100 students, plus a panel of judges. This year, they moved to online presentations and wanted to get as many judges as possible to tune in.

Jonathan Brower, Chad Ostrander, and Nancy Cline volunteered as judges from the Dallas Branch, and they were joined by ASCE members from Wisconsin, Seattle, and Alaska after a call for volunteers was sent out via the ASCE Global CE Club network! There were six total presentations spread out over three hours, and the judges were able to give lots of feedback to the students on their presentations, their problem-solving skills, and their creativity. ASCE Dallas hopes to continue this tradition of involvement with Hillcrest High School for years to come and hopefully in person next year!