Strengthening Communities Through Educational Outreach

By Randy Alexander, CWB and Carlo Andreani, PE, Senior Directors, Land Development 

The Importance of Community Outreach 

Supporting our local school districts is a cornerstone of our purpose. Students are the future, representing the progress we strive to achieve locally and globally. Public school Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM), and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offer excellent opportunities for our team to engage with local communities and nurture the next generation of talent. By providing hands-on experience in engineering, surveying, and other technical fields, we inspire curiosity and enthusiasm in young professionals. This ignites a passion for these career paths and equips students with essential skills for a smoother transition into the workforce. Our Fort Worth, TX office recently collaborated with local school districts to educate STEM-oriented students about civil engineering and related fields; our leaders quickly felt the positive effects of the outreach and shared with us benefits and insights from the experience.   

Outreach and Engagement with Local ISD CTE/STEM Programs 

By integrating academic learning with practical skills in areas like engineering or surveying, CTE programs help students gain valuable experience and competencies for the workforce. Recently, our Fort Worth team engaged with students from Keller ISD and Mansfield ISD STEM/CTE programs. They found the benefits of engaging with these programs in our local school districts to be multi-faceted: 

• Create Awareness: Engaging with local school districts is vital for raising awareness about our industry. Despite engineering's ancient roots, students often overlook its modern impact. Our involvement highlights courses in robotics, drone piloting, and computer science, as these courses align with our business and showcase the diverse career paths within our industry. Although trade programs like welding, plumbing, carpentry, and HVAC systems may not directly align with our core services, our engagement with these areas is crucial for building relationships and enhancing awareness of both our company and the broader industry. Many students interested in civil engineering, land surveying, or related fields often lack understanding without personal connections, making our outreach crucial to bridge this gap. 
• Strengthen the Local Workforce: Real-world experience is invaluable. By offering student internships, they gain hands-on experience with our teams at Westwood. Students work on projects they see daily, leaving high school with experiences usually reserved for college internships. Though unpaid and facilitated through school programs, many seniors receive full-time paid summer jobs before college, providing them with career-long benefits. 
• Create a Recruiting Pipeline: Some of our current employees began as student interns and now return as college interns. They share their positive experiences with classmates, referring them to us. In a competitive recruiting environment, we aim to establish a pipeline of local candidates who aspire to join Westwood from the start of their careers. 
• Support Local Communities: Through our land development work, we’re able to design new schools, stadiums, and infrastructure in our local communities. When discussing our work with local students, they take pride in contributing to, or learning about, the community projects.  

High School Interns in Alliance and Downtown Offices 

Our Downtown Fort Worth office is hosting two seniors from Mansfield ISD, working alongside our commercial, institutional, and residential design teams during the 2024-2025 school year. These interns come through Mansfield ISD’s Ben Barber Innovation Academy and plan to pursue engineering in college.  In addition, our Alliance Fort Worth office is hosting three seniors from Keller ISD, working with our commercial, residential and public infrastructure teams. Our goal is to expose them to real-world civil engineering practice by placing them on design teams with two mentors (Graduate Engineers: Emma Nobles, Javier Almanza, Jyoti Sapkota, Benito Mercado, Jackie Saldivar, Juan Garcia, Carter Hanson and Andrew Elliott) to train and delegate tasks, benefitting both students and mentors. 

Our mentors offer unique perspectives, having recently entered the workforce and understanding the challenges of starting a career. Their perspective allows them to effectively train and utilize interns, showcasing their potential in a professional setting. We also include STEM interns in activities outside the office, like a recent event with our Westwood Gives program, where we prepared 1,873 meal packages with Real Estate Against Community Hunger (REACH), a local non-profit. This exposure helps students see the impact of their work both inside and outside the office. 

 
Volunteers from our Downtown Fort Worth Office prepared 1,873 meals for an event hosted by Real Estate Against Community Hunger (REACH).  

Impact on Clients and the Community 

By engaging in these programs, we’re fostering a skilled workforce that meets our specific industry needs while enhancing students’ career readiness. This outreach not only bridges the engineering knowledge gap but also strengthens the local workforce by providing students with hands-on, real-world experience. Students learn technical skills from practicing engineers and develop an understanding of civil engineering and allied technical careers, such as surveying, environmental science, and landscape architecture. Through this first-hand experience, students gain an appreciation for the work that goes into building and maintaining a successful, thriving community. They recognize the knowledge, effort, and experience our clients and our team invest in the shared community. Contributing to work that directly affects the students’ communities reinforces their passion and inspires future interns, ensuring continued growth. 

Encouraging Collaborative Efforts Across the Country 

Through cooperation with local school districts, our team effectively serves communities by exposing students to civil engineering and other STEM fields. As we continue to expand to new locations, our ability to make meaningful societal impacts grows. Our work in Fort Worth provides a foundation for other areas to build similar programs. We encourage our offices and local K-12 school districts to pursue similar collaborations—it is a rewarding endeavor! 

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About the Authors 

Randy Alexander, CWB Senior Director, Land Development, is a seasoned professional with nearly 15 years at Westwood, specializing in environmental science and regulatory compliance for land development and infrastructure projects. He manages teams of engineers and scientists, serving clients like land developers and government agencies.  

Carlo Andreani, PE Senior Director, Land Development, has 20 years of experience in land development and is located in our Fort Worth - Alliance office. He focuses on growing institutional development relationships across Texas. Actively engaged with local ISDs, Carlo's project management experience includes K-12 bond programs, underscoring his commitment to community development and educational outreach.