Transportation YOU
WTS Philadelphia Chapter’s Transportation YOU
What is WTS Philadelphia's Transportation YOU Program?
Transportation YOU is a hands-on, interactive, mentoring program that offers young women ages 13-18 an introduction to a wide variety of transportation careers. Through the program, WTS chapters work to make a difference in the lives of young girls by offering programs and activities that will spark their interest in all modes of transportation and encourage them to take courses in math, science, and technology, which are the stepping stones to exciting careers that can change the face of the transportation industry.
This is WTS Philadelphia's ninth year hosting the Transportation YOU program! Throughout the program year, both mentors and mentees have the opportunity to explore what makes the transportation industry so important and learn about how it impacts their every lives. Events are typically scheduled on Saturdays from 10:00am to 2:00pm, once every other month from September through June. Participants are encouraged to attend all of the events to get the full benefit of the overall program. We understand that scheduling conflicts sometimes arise, so we ask that parents and mentees please carefully the review the proposed event schedule prior to committing to the program. Parents/guardians are always welcome, but not required, to attend the events. All participants are required to register for the Transportation YOU program and each event for an accurate headcount. Events are typically hosted in Philadelphia. However, occasionally there are unique opportunities outside of the City limits in which our group will participate. Each year's program is different, so we encourage mentees to return for multiple years while they are eligible! Also, the program is completely FREE and lunch is provided at each event!
Our program is led by over thirty women professionals (engineers, planners, marketing, and finance professionals) who volunteer their time as mentors. Note that all of our mentors have undergone the background checks required by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
We are currently accepting applications on a rolling basis until November 15th here. The first event will be held on September 28th, but we will be accepting applications up until the 2nd event.
Examples of past activities and the activities planned for the 2018-2019 program year can be seen below!
For additional information, please visit: http://www.transportationyou.org/
Any questions about the program can be e-mailed to [email protected]
When will events be held this year?
Our tentative schedule of events for this program year is as follows, with all events being held on a Saturday from approximately 10:00am to 2:00pm
- September 28, 2019 - Kickoff Event / Green Streets
- November 23, 2019 - How Philadelphia Moves
- January 11, 2020 - Red Light, Green Light and How Traffic Works
- March 14, 2020 - Emergency Management in Philadelphia
- May 2, 2020 - College Fair and Opportunities Expo
- June 13, 2020- End of Year Celebration
What are the goals and benefits of Transportation YOU?
- Educate and empower young women regarding opportunities in the transportation industry
- Connect mentees with role models through mentorship programs with professional women
- Provide internships and career development opportunities
- Help mentees build leadership skills and self-confidence
- Make STEM education more accessible through scholarship opportunities
- Build awareness of transportation as an exciting and rewarding career option
- Contribute to the diversity and creativity of our transportation workforce
- Create network of professionals in the public and private transportation industries
Scholarship Opportunities
WTS offers scholarships to high school students on the local and national level. Mentors can assist mentees with developing and reviewing their application/essays for ALL scholarships.
Note that WTS scholarship applications are typically released mid to late August. Applicants are not required to participate in the Transportation YOU program to apply for a scholarship; however, it is a great experience and resume builder.
Overview of Last Year's Program and Past Events
September 2019 – Kickoff Event & Green Streets
WTS Philadelphia Transportation YOU started the 2019-2020 season on September 28th 2019 with a kickoff event and presentation on green streets! The day started with a round of introductions by the program organizers, mentors, and mentees. Then WTS Philadelphia TrYOU Vice Chairs Danielle Schroeder and Andrea Carberry gave an overview of the program and what to expect for the coming year, including an upcoming tour of a yet-to-be-disclosed transportation facility in Philadelphia (the suspense!) and a tour of the City of Philadelphia’s Emergency Operations Center where agency representatives convene to solve complex problems during disaster. With the introductions out of the way, Desarie Hammond-Jones and Donna Guzewski got everyone moving with a game of People Bingo, a new favorite icebreaker for the WTS Philadelphia TrYOU chapter!
After the icebreaker (and lunch!), WTS Philadelphia Student Outreach Chair Helene Brennan of STV, Inc. gave a presentation on green streets. She explained the innovative and creative ways to design streets to make communities cleaner and greener by catching stormwater runoff in rain gardens, tree trenches, and bioswales. These designs slow water runoff into the combined sewer system, especially after heavy rainfall, and help to cleanse, filter, and store the water and green the street. With all that new information, the mentees where challenged to apply what they just learned by greening a street in Philadelphia! They sketched out their designs and presented them to the group. There were a lot of innovative ideas, including adding bike lanes as a greener alternative to car travel.
Thank you to Pennoni Associates, Danielle Schroeder, Andrea Carberry, Helene Brennan, Desarie Hammond-Jones, and Donna Guzewski for organizing the event, and thank you to all the mentors and mentees who attended. We look forward to an exciting new year!
June 2019 – End of Year Celebration
On June 15th, 2019 Transportation YOU held its End of Year Celebration for the 2018-2019 program year at Pennoni in Center City Philadelphia. This celebration was held in honor of the mentees and all of the hard work they have put into the program throughout the school year. At the beginning of the event, each mentee and mentor introduced herself and recounted her favorite TrYOU event from the past year.
After introductions, Dr. Sharon Walker, Dean of the College of Engineering at Drexel University spoke to the mentees as our Notable Women in STEM speaker. Through her interactive presentation, she spoke about her journey to become the University’s first female Dean as well as challenged the girls to think of what problems they want to solve in the world. Mentees, mentors, and parents were impressed by the insights of Drexel University's College of Engineering's Dean Sharon Walker, Ph.D, F. AEESP. During lunch, we played a slideshow of pictures from each event. This year, we covered a wide variety of topics including pedestrian trails along the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia’s bike share program, tips/tricks for college preparation, and the future of aviation so it was great to recap the program year. Not at last month's event? No worries! The video can be viewed here.
The award-winning robotics team from Cherry Hill East H.S. called Y-Naught also made an appearance, sharing their experiences from the world championship competition. Following the robotics presentation, gifts and certificates were given to all the mentees who were a part of the 2018-2019 program year. Transportation YOU Philadelphia congratulates the mentees on all of their amazing achievements!
April 2019 - Future of Transportation in Philadelphia
WTS Philadelphia’s Transportation YOU’s fifth event in the 2018/2019 program took a look at the future of transportation in Philadelphia. Hosted by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS), the girls heard what inspired OTIS employees to get into transportation and shared what inspired them as current students in transportation!
While overlooking’s Philadelphia’s City Hall from OTIS’s Innovation Lab, the girls learned about current projects in Philly that will improve transportation across multiple modes. From protected bike lanes and new trolleys, to changes on Roosevelt Boulevard and “Free Streets” day on Broad Street, there’s a lot to look forward to in Philadelphia!
After lunch, the girls split into two groups and got to see some of these projects firsthand. While some girls went on a walking tour to see the new Love Park and upgraded SEPTA stations, others rode through new protected bike lanes using Philadelphia’s bike share system, Indego.
Thank you to OTIS and Indego for a fun and informative day in the sun!
For more photos from our April event, check out our Facebook album!
March 2019 - Trends in Aviation
WTS Philadelphia Transportation YOU’s fourth event in the 2018/2019 program focused primarily on the aviation side of transportation and was held at Temple University. As March is Women's History month, the day began with a timeline created by our Professional Development co-chairs, Kiera Crenny and Rachel Chiquoine, which spanned from 1840 to 2020 filled with women inventors, trailblazers, and other prominent women in history. TrYOU mentor, Kara Ogawa, then presented on airfield lighting and her role as an engineer at a consulting firm. Following, WTS Philadelphia’s Vice President, Linell Homentosky, spoke about what she does as the regional aviation lead at her company, giving the mentees and mentors a sneak peek at the future of airports. After these fantastic presentations, we had lunch and discussed the upcoming DC Summit application.
In the afternoon, the University of Delaware’s Construction Management program led the mentees through a number of rotating activities. The girls took turns flying drones through a number of hula hoops in a specific order and then flying the drone over to a sign to take a photo of it, making a two-tower bridge out of only paper, and learning about the physics of friction through air hockey tables.
Thank you to Temple University’s College of Engineering, Nicole Khan, Kara Ogawa, Linell Homentosky, Kiera Crenny, Rachel Chiquoine, and the University of Delaware’s Construction Management program for such a fun and informative event!
January 2019 - Game Day
WTS Philadelphia Transportation YOU continued the 2018/2019 season with a fun transportation themed Game Day! The day started with an ice breaker activity. Mentors and mentees chose strings and threaded them across a board through categories including age, grade, favorite color, and even types of pets. Then, everyone introduced themselves and stated their name, grade, school, and favorite game (Uno definitely won favorite game!). After the icebreakers, Kim Waters introduced the new program WTS will be rolling out: WTS Works. Through the program, graduating high school seniors interested in STEM careers can apply to summer internships with participating WTS firms. There will also be a shadowing program open to non-graduating mentees also available. Both of these programs require a resume to be submitted for consideration.
To get the mentees prepared for writing resumes, Nana Fares gave a presentation on how to develop a professional resume. This presentation advised the mentees on how to highlight academic and extracurricular achievements on their resumes. Once the mentees submit resumes for jobs, they often will be interviewed in person for a position before they get it. To help the mentees prepare for future interviews, Desarie Hammond Jones gave a presentation on What to and What Not to Wear for a job interview. She gave some great tips on how to dress for success and get the job! In the afternoon the mentees split into two groups to play some fun transportation related games. One group played a fun game of Jeopardy while the other played a game of head bands. The games took on transportation twists with the clues being related to transportation. Everyone had so much fun trying to guess the clues and the headband words!
Thank you Pennoni Associates, Kim Waters, Nana Fares, Desarie Hammond Jones, Kiera Crenny, Rachel Chiquoine, all the mentees and mentors for making the January event so much fun!
November 2018 - College Panel
WTS Philadelphia Transportation YOU continued the 2018-2019 program year with its second event – the College Q&A Panel. The day started with a student panel full of local college students and recent alumni answering questions and giving their perspectives on college for the mentees. Students/Alumni from Pennsylvania State University, Cabrini University, Drexel University, Rowan University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Delaware gave advice to the girls on lots of great topics including the college application process, choosing a major, preparation in high school for college and getting support once in college. After the student panel the mentees, panelists, and mentors took part in a “speed networking" activity to help the mentees continue building on their network of connections. Mentees rotated through the panelists and mentors, one by one, discussing a range of fun topics and learning about each other. At the end of the session, the mentees, mentors, and panelists had the opportunity to introduce one another and share what they learned about their current one on one match-up. During these two activities the mentees partook in, the parents in attendance were in a separate session with Villanova admissions counselor Erica Woods speaking to them on college applications, college financial aid, and what to consider when selecting a college.
In the afternoon, there was a second panel with college engineering faculty members for the Panelists. Faculty members included Sarah Bauer, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at Rowan University, Sue McNeil, Ph.D., PE a Professor at the University of Delaware, Seri Park, Ph.D., PTP, an Associate Professor at Villanova University ,and Vicki Brown, Ph.D., PE a Professor at Widener University. The professors were able to share information with the mentees about what they teach, college research and labs, the path to getting a Ph.D. and the path to becoming a professor. All this information was helpful and the mentees were able to ask many questions.
A special thank you to Burns Engineering, the student panelists (Stephanie, Jala, Maxime, Elvira, Mehar, Gina, Laura, Monica and Ledornubari), admissions counselor Erica Woods, the college professor panelists (Dr. Bauer, Dr. McNeil, Dr. Park, and Dr. Brown), and all the mentors for making this such a great November event!
September 2018 - Kickoff Celebration
WTS Philadelphia Transportation YOU started its eighth program year with a fantastic kickoff event on September 29, 2018. The day started off with a brief introduction of WTS and the TrYOU program. Following the introduction, mentor Rachel Chiquoine led a fun icebreaker called "People Bingo". The game required the mentees to fill out Bingo cards with interesting traits that could describe some of the people of the room. The bingo squares included facts like "is an only child" or "has been on a road trip". Mentees then had to network around the room to find people that could sign each spot. The mentees also practiced crucial professional development skills through the activity by requiring they introduce themselves each time they met a new person, remembering to use a firm handshake and eye contact! The goal of the game was to meet each other and network whilefilling out their entire bingo card. Everyone successfully completed their bingo cards and had a great time in the process.
In the afternoon, the mentees were treated to a presentation from the Schuylkill River Development Corporation (SRDC). President & CEO Joseph Syrnick and Marketing & Development Associate Heather Saeger gave an informative talk on how the SRDC is revitalizing the Schuylkill River corridor from the Fairmount Dam to the Delaware River. The SRDC has been working on construction, programming and maintenance of the 8-mile riverfront trail for everyone to enjoy. After the presentation, Joe Syrnick and Lane Fike, Director of Capital Projects, led the mentees on a walking tour of the trail. The nice weather and great information really made this event so much fun!
A special thank you to Jacobs, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, Joseph Syrnick, Heather Saeger, Lane Fike, and Rachel Chiquoine for a great kickoff event!
How do I contact Transportation YOU?
E-mail us at [email protected], or you can visit our social media sites: