Division's outreach and recruitment efforts support student learning and career opportunities
The Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities works to support Virginia Tech’s operational functions and deliver a strong sense of service to the university community and beyond.
Its many departments have collaborated with university partners to create opportunities for local elementary, middle, and high school students to enrich their learning and explore new career paths.
From the Virginia Tech Electric Service visiting Auburn Elementary School for career day to the stormwater management team participating in a stormwater education days program for seventh graders, the division is expanding and enriching outreach and recruitment efforts to support student learning and potentially grow the local pipeline to Virginia Tech careers.
Virginia Tech Electric Service visits career day
The Virginia Tech Electric Service attended Auburn Elementary School’s career day on March 24.
“This was an outreach event that is all about getting the students excited about electricity,” said Nam Nguyen, senior director of the Virginia Tech Electric Service and deputy to the assistant vice president for infrastructure. “It’s an educational experience for the students to learn about power delivery.”
The crew arrived in style, pulling into the school's parking lot in a Virginia Tech Electric Service bucket truck. The team brought numerous pieces of equipment including rubber insulated gloves, hard hats, harnesses, and other electrical safety equipment for the fourth grade classes.
“The crew emphasized how electricity works, gets produced and made, and then delivered to your home,” Nguyen said.
In addition to providing the students with insight into electrical production and distribution, the crew discussed electrical safety with the fourth graders. Communicating safety to over 80 Auburn Elementary students was a large part of the Virginia Tech Electric Service’s involvement in career day.
The Virginia Tech Electric Service (VTES) has a strong link to the university and local community, serving about 6,000 residential and commercial customers in the Town of Blacksburg.
“The overarching goal of our involvement with Auburn Elementary’s career day is to keep the community engaged with what we do at VTES as well as extend our mission and message to serve,” Nguyen said.
Stormwater Education Days
The division’s stormwater team participated in Stormwater Education Days on April 4-5.
Stormwater Education Days teaches every seventh grader in Montgomery County about water quality, pollution prevention, and watersheds in an outdoor classroom setting at the Izaak Walton League in Christiansburg. The outreach event is a partnership with the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System coordinators for Montgomery County, the Town of Christiansburg, Town of Blacksburg, and the Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities.
“The lasting impact from outreach events like this is when the students are able to learn and then carry over these topics into their day-to-day lives,” said Water Resources Specialist Katelyn Muldoon. “If they are learning about pollution, prevention, and sustainability, they are going to go home and talk about it with their family members, and it's going to trickle down that way.”
Stormwater Education Days featured hands-on stations for students to rotate around, including a trout hatchery where they could feed baby trout, flood and groundwater models, stormwater filters, fly fishing, and an augmented reality sandbox.
“When focusing on education and outreach, any way I can get students active, involved, and participating is so important,” Muldoon said.
Stormwater Education Days is intertwined with the university community, brought to fruition through strong local partnerships and run by student, faculty, and community volunteers. Additionally, topics and key takeaways from student activities are shared to spread knowledge and participation in sustainable practices.
Additional education and outreach events that the division’s stormwater department is involved in throughout the year are on-site field trips with elementary school students in Montgomery County, guest lectures in Virginia Tech courses, and stream clean-ups with Virginia Tech student groups.
“It’s so important to connect with these students and ultimately reach that younger generation that have the potential to be future Hokies,” Muldoon said.
Tech Tracks
Continuing to reach the university community through dynamic outreach activities and tapping into recruitment events, the division participated in Tech Tracks.
Sponsored and organized by Virginia Tech Human Resources, Tech Tracks invited 11th grade students from Radford High School to the Blacksburg campus for a day full of exploring personal interests and potential career paths.
“This year’s Tech Tracks provided a great opportunity for Radford High School students to learn about the many career opportunities available at Virginia Tech,” said Virginia Tech Talent Acquisition Manager Jeff Cumberland. “The Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities is a great partner and provides students the chance to hear from our experienced employees about these important roles and decide which track interests them.”
Seven tracks were offered, with the division offering three of those tracks: campus planning, infrastructure, and facilities operations.
Accompanied alongside the division’s three offered tracks, a small synopsis of the area was communicated to the students as well as a continued discussion about career opportunities in the field.
“Oftentimes, when we think about careers in higher education, we only think about a professor or instructor,” said Human Resources Generalist Jackie McClanahan. “We are helping to expand that thinking and expose students to the operations side of the university function.”
From touring capital construction projects to witnessing the preparation of Hokie Stone to be placed on a building, Tech Tracks gave these high school students an inside look at how the Blacksburg campus operates.
The exploration of the inner workings of the university provided by the division’s staff support student learning and provide insight into the career opportunities available at Virginia Tech.
“It's about planting a seed and providing exposure to what is possible - even locally in the area,” said McClanahan. “It’s about saying, ‘Hey, Virginia Tech is here, and we have these career opportunities right here locally.’”
Sprinkling in recruitment efforts within outreach events, primarily with older local students, has the potential to develop a strong pipeline for talent flowing into Virginia Tech. The division aims to continue both outreach and recruitment efforts, and focus on reaching the widespread university community.
“We are working to cultivate connections, as those could turn into future partnerships with local elementary schools, high schools, whoever visits campus,” McClanahan said.
