Students explore engineering options at the City of Roseville

Careers in Public Service Day offer insights

Roseville, CA- Engineering students from four area high schools spent a day exploring the inner workings of several Roseville municipal facilities. The purpose was to help increase students’ awareness of how engineering applies to the diverse career opportunities available in the public sector.

The Careers in Public Service Day provided insight to technical trades and processes at the City’s Traffic Operations Center, Building Division and Utility Facilities, Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the Electric Yard for more than 20 high school students. The students who attended the activity are from Woodcreek High School, Granite Bay High School, Roseville High School, and Antelope High School.

“This is our new workforce,” stated Asst. Human Resources Director, Hedy Dehghan. “We want to provide them with internship opportunities while they are still studying in high school, so there is a logical link between what they are learning in the classroom to what they could be doing in an occupation at work.”

City engineers from several disciplines shared the importance of how math, science, engineering, and technology are all carefully crafted to facilitate the needs of different career fields. The group participated in hands‐on exercises throughout the tour.

“It’s a lot more diverse than I thought, even inside of one major,” said Woodcreek High School Student Joseph Schaberman. “I was thinking of going into civil engineering originally, and I got to see three (subspecialties, such as) wastewater management, traffic transportation, and public works projects.”

A generic list of engineering subspecialties includes hundreds of types of engineers. The City employs numerous engineers in several disciplines, including electrical, mechanical, chemical, civil, geotechnical, computer, and water management, to name a few.

The impression on the students was evident to those who participated. Woodcreek High School Engineering Teacher Andrew Rusnak noted several moments where students were impressed by what they saw. “There were several times at different demonstrations that the students were reacting. ‘Wow! That was cool! I didn’t know it worked like that!’ As a teacher, that was very cool to see.”

The Roseville municipal tours were part of a larger regional effort coordinated by the Innovative Pathways to Public Service (IPPS). The group organized similar tours for more than 300 students throughout the area at multiple municipal, county, state, and healthcare facilities.