Students at AEM Construction Challenge dream big, build big

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of addressing the extraordinary group of young people gathered at the AEM Construction Challenge Championship in Las Vegas.  The Construction Challenge is a hands-on competition where teams of high school students work together to solve infrastructure problems with construction solutions. 

This year’s championship consisted of two challenges.  The first, Road Rumble, required each team to build a headquarters using construction materials obtained by a radio-controlled piece of transportation equipment they designed.  The second, H2 Oh Yeah!, challenged the teams to research water policy and infrastructure issues and compete against each other in a quiz show.

Teams compete in the Road Rumble challenge.

The contests required each student to use their logical and technical skills to advance.  And while it was a closely fought battle the entire day, team OH13OH from the Miami Valley Career Technology Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, ultimately took home the overall 2011 Construction Challenge prize.

But win or lose, each student who made it to Las Vegas already accomplished a great deal in my book.  Over 1,000 teens competed in regional qualifying rounds in January for a chance to advance to the national championship.  The 144 students from 24 high schools who competed this week represented the very best and brightest.

Students get hands-on at the H2 Oh Yeah! challenge.

And I delivered a message to them straight from President Obama: Even though the competition may be over, we’re counting on you to keep up your studies in science, technology, engineering, and math.

These teens, and so many like them across the country, are the next generation of leaders we’re going to be looking toward as we build the 21st century transportation systems we all need and deserve. 

We need students who excel in science and math.  We need trained engineers, architects, and construction workers who can dream big and build big.  We need creative and dedicated young people to choose careers in transportation.

And that's why President Obama is committed to strengthening our education system--so that every child in America has the tools they need to not just shape their own future, but to shape America’s future as well.

The fact is, there’s no greater economic policy than one that invests in our children's future and helps America out-educate the world.  And there's never been a better time to be in transportation.

The winning team from Miami Valley Career Technology Center in Clayton, Ohio.

Comments

[Dr. Carol L. Revelle]

I'm happy that the Secretary of Education had such a favorable opinion of the work of our teams on the Construction Challenge. However, the current education policy is wrong-headed to believe that the current trend towards standardization will produce the types of students that were represent in the audience last night. My daughter, a member of the 3rd place overall team from Carrollton, Texas, has participated in the Destination Imagination program to improve her critical thinking and problem solving skills since 3rd grade BECAUSE I was so concerned that the test-driven atmosphere in her school would not provide her a well-rounded education.
Yes, all of these students are strong math and science students, but they are far better students because of the project-based approach they have experienced through these types of programs, NOT because they have been tested their entire school careers under NCLB.
The current education policies that are requesting more testing will not create the type of workforce that can imagine and create a new American infrastructure. Nor will this happen in a system that favors math and science courses over history and the arts. This will only happen when we support all of our schools and teachers both financially and in our rhetoric. As our politicians pick apart the American education system, they are also reducing the opportunity for our students to thrive and grow into the adults we will need to build the future.

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I totally agree to your post. It is a good practice to give students challenge specially problems that are encountered on our daily lives and are realistic. They are our future leaders and the successor of our current jobs. They should learn early and perhaps good ideas will emerge from fresh minds.