Students take equipment for a test drive at Central Florida Construction Career Days.

Posted: February 28, 2015
Last modified: February 24, 2022

More than 1,500 high school student from across Central Florida got a hands-on look at some of the careers available to them in the construction industries at the 15th annual Central Florida Construction Career Days. FDOT is one of the partner agencies responsible for making the event happen.

The three-day outreach was held from January 27 to 29 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds and featured more than 30 learning labs. FDOT hosted five labs that showed students skills they would need to work on the I-4 Ultimate project: bridge and construction inspection, structures design and geotechnical engineering. The I-4 Ultimate team gave students a chance to learn about heavy equipment operation with equipment simulators and let them test drive survey and GPS equipment.

“It really opens the eyes of high school students not only to career opportunities they have, but also what we’re doing out there on the road,” said Loreen Bobo, P.E., the I-4 Ultimate Construction Program Manager and event chairperson. “There are a lot of opportunities, especially with FDOT projects. We have what’s called on-the-job training. If you have a high school diploma, you can come in and be trained in these skills.”

For more information on Construction Career Days, including registration, volunteering and sponsorship forms, visit ccdfl.org.