Traditionally “Take Your Child to Work Day” is a time for employees to bring their children with them to the office to see what mommy and daddy do all day. Instead of just accompanying their parents to work New York District planned an outstanding day of fun learning activities. District volunteers, representative of various divisions planned a program showcasing the many career fields within USACE.
The committee was led by Jean Lau (EEO) and members: Nathaniel Wales (PL), Carissa Scarpa (PL), Matthew Lubiak (CT), Anthony Schiano (EN), Lou Benard (EX) and Thomas Capowski (SA). Together they organized activities intended to inspire the next generation towards careers in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).
This year’s program began with a Safety briefing led by Thomas Capowski, followed by a presentation about architectural design and a visual tour of New York City’s landmark buildings led by Lou Benard. Demonstrations about solar power and static electricity were led by Anthony Schiano, a bridge building contest where teams were set up and tasked to build a stable and strong structure made with only jellybeans and toothpicks was orchestrated by Nathaniel Wales. An exercise about stratigraphy, (study of rock layers) a show-and-tell of artifacts discovered at USACE project sites and do-it-yourself time capsules was given by Carissa Scarpa.
The day’s events concluded with a contracting presentation and exercise demonstrating the bid process, how-to calculate profit margins, and government contracting principals led by Matthew Lubiak. 20 children participated in this year’s program and it’s anticipated that it will continue to grow each year. Take Your Child to Work Day is a great opportunity for kids to see what their parents do for the Corps.