T < 'I q Page 10 • Portland Observer • January 12. 1989 piu At The Oregon Department of Transportation We Share The Dream hfl I zi! .Ii hm When M artin Luther King gave his infamous "I Have A D re a m " speech, he invoked a vision of what America could become and his vision inspired m illions of Americans to w ork together to produce positive, constructive change in our society. >3 ■18 lo I löi ne I VA 10 M artin Luther King's voice awoke the con science of our nation. The speech he so e lo quently delivered on that August day in 1963, will be an enduring legacy fo r generations to come because it expressed the heart and soul of the American dream as a land offering opportunity for prosperity to all its citizens. We at O D O T are pleased to join w ith others in honoring the birthday of this great A m eri can leader w ith a Special Edition of this pub lication. We feel an even greater honor to his legacy are the program s and activities at ODOT that are helping to give young m in o r ities an o pp ortu nity to pursue their dreams, and in doing so bring the American dream closer to reality. Below we describe a few of those programs. |)fl su on ufi 00 ud o> Khvong Vihh Ho, Mario Rodriquez, Jorae Hernandez, Alteha Moroene & Joe Ball. Minority Student Summer Engineering Institute Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Program For the last tw o years, O D O T has supported a program, together w ith the Am erican Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and Portland State University in support of a program that ta r gets m in o rity stu d e n ts in te re s te d in an engineering career. Rochelle, Chau, and Toi were all participants of the MESA Program. O D O T has w orked w ith the MESA program fo r several years. MESA is a program designed to attract m inor- ity m iddle and school youth into careers id high I in sciences, e ng ine ering , m ath and te c h nology. The M in o rity Student Summer Engineering Institute is entering its third year of operation. Seventeen m inority high school students par ticipated in a five-day w orkshop at Portland State University during the summer of 1988. An expanded tw o week program fo r 35 ju n io r and senior students is being planned in 1989. lo ,r1f im Jq ¡el e. 3 A MESA students p a rticip a te in a variety o f activities in clu d in g : study groups, science labs, technical site visits w ith hands-on activi ties, speakers, design contests, math and sci ence c o m p e titio n s , and m e n to rs h ip and internship opportunities. . J A >W It Portland MESA is a jo in t venture between the Portland State University School of Engineer ing and Applied Science and Portland Public Schools. The MESA program is open to all students at participating schools, but its mis sions is to encourage m in o rity students to enter careers in math, science and engineer ing. The program exposes students to a variety of engineering fields and includes form al pre sentation, laboratory tours w ith "hands o n " work, site visits, and group project activities. T he s tu d e n ts h a ve b e e n p a r t ic u la r ly impressed w ith being able to meet w ith prac ticing engineers in a w ork environm ent. used a com puter drafting system to lay-out various locations and designs of road co n struction projects, perform ed math calcula tio ns to help d e te rm in e th e costs o f her designs, and spent tim e in the field perform ing survey w ork and seeing first-hand how her designs w ou ld be built. In 1988, six high school students thro u gh ou t the State were em ployed on engineering, surveying, and m aintenance crews. Three students w orked in Portland. The response from both students, and supervisors was overw helm ingly "th u m b s u p ", "le t's do it again next year". Larry Olson, U tility Specialist, to ld Chau, " If you tackle your studies w ith the same e n th u siastic challenge you showed in w orking for th e H ig h w a y D iv is io n y o u w i l l d o w e ll".... "Y ou are talented, hardw orking, and courteous, you have a bright fu tu re ." Rochelle Watson, a Benson High School stu dent, w orked on Paul Hailey's Design crew. Rochelle worked in an office setting that p ro vided her a good learning experience. She assisted w ith the coloring of maps, perform ing survey work, checking m athematical cal culations on projects, and provided basic engineering and o ffice su pp ort. R ochelle stated she enjoyed w orking w ith the survey crew and designing her " o w n " parking lot. R o ch e lle plans to fo llo w h e r d re a m o f becoming an engineer. "The self-esteem she has gained from a job well done w ill help her achieve that dream ," said Hailey. Bob Schalk hired Chau Pham, another stu dent at Benson High School, to w ork in his Design office. She was responsible fo r exam ining location of road improvements. Chau D is tr ic t M a in te n a n c e S u p e rv is o r D ave W illhite, em ployed Toi Lim of Franklin High School, on M aintenance crew in the Portland area. Toi w orked w ith construction plans and permits. She assisted w ith inspection, review ing of construction plans, and rem oving of traffic signal heads. Toi was also given the resp on sibility o f answ ering the te le p h o n e and fie ld in g questions w henever possible. Toi has a better understanding of road w ork the Highway Division operations regarding permits and plans. Dave stated Toi was an added plus to the office. ft A M M w High School Summer Intern Program The Oregon Departm ent of Transportation continues to assist m inority and female high school students th ro u gh summer e m p loy m ent program s. These program s p ro vide opportunities to gain skills and experiences that can lead to a successful career in the field of transportation. iß io •p »V ;il wl V V, c ■,l J* IO ► II íí < L -»***.r >6 <■< -It Toi was able to "c o n tin u e her d re a m " by learning to expand her horizons. Toi stated, "I can do anything I want to d o ." Toi in d i cated the most challenging experience faced was learning to read maps. She indicated the hands-on experiences required her mental abilities as well as physical abilities. The Oregon Department of Transportation CIVIL RIGHTS SECTION 4 1 2 Transportation Building Salem, Oregon 9 7 3 1 0 3 7 8 -8 0 7 7 it ¡0 -3 : » ariu*/*-* *- rit/s Off I