Recent K-12 Outreach Events

The ASCE Philadelphia YMF organizes many outreach events to present Civil Engineering topics to students in grades K-12. Summaries of some recent K-12 Outreach Events are listed below. If you are interested in volunteering at similar events, contact YMF K-12 Outreach Team at ASCEPhilaYMFK12@gmail.com to get on our volunteer list!

When attending one of our events, your photo may be taken by one of our members and used on this website or our social media! Click on the photos for additional photos from that specific outreach event.

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    John H Taggart School (August 2023)

    On August 1, 2023 ASCE Philadelphia YMF visited Taggart School in South Philadelphia. Volunteers John Healy and Kerianne Chen gave a presentation and ran a water pollution activity for approximately 40 students, in 2nd to 5th grade. The students, participating in Pennsylvania’s Migrant Education program, had been learning about water over the past month. Following the civil engineering overview presentation, students designed their own filtration system to aid in removing particulates from the “polluted” water. Students used coffee filters, cotton balls, marbles, spoons, cups, and a recycled soda bottle to filter out the dirt and trash in the dirty water. Volunteers and students enjoyed experimenting with the materials to determine how best to filter the water.

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  • Samuel Fels High School (March 2023)

    On March 15, 2023 ASCE Philadelphia YMF visited Samuel Fels High School to give a presentation on Civil Engineering to a computer science class. Following the presentation on the various disclipines of civil engineering, the students worked in groups to design, build, and test straw bridges. They were surprised to see how many pennies their bridges were able to hold. The bridges held an impressive weight, and were able to demonstrate to the students how bridge design works.

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  • JR Masterman Career Day (February 2023)

    On February 24, 2023 ASCE Philadelphia YMF visited JR Masterman School for their annual Career Day. Volunteers gave a presentation on Civil Engineering and answered student questions for seven (7) groups of high school students. Students learned about the different disciplines of Civil Engineering and how it is all around their everyday lives. It was a great success, and we were able to share our experiences with over 150 students.


  • Potter Thomas Elementary School (December 2022)

    On December 12, 2022 ASCE Philadelphia YMF visited Potter Thomas Elementary school in Philadelphia to give a presentation on Civil Engineering to the Girls Inc. afterschool program. Volunteers told the 5th grade students about different disciplines in civil engineering, and facilitated a Marble Roller Coaster activity. Students had to consider constraints like time and materials to create a path for a marble to travel for the longest time possible. Both groups were able to create a successful roller coaster, and they learned that often it can be challenging working on a team with differing opinions!

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  • K-12 Virtual Outreach with Central PA YMG - October 2, 2020

    On Friday, October 2nd, we co-hosted our first K-12 Outreach event for the FY21 school year virtually with the Central PA YMG. K-12 Outreach Co-chairs, CJ Medora and Christian Antisell, were joined by Central PA YMG President Dani Schroeder of Pennoni, Dustin Black of Michigan DOT, Sam Schneider of Saint-Gobain, and Emily Bernzott Emm of NTM for the event.

    Our volunteers spoke to students across all grade levels about civil engineering and CJ instructed virtually for the "Fireworks in a Jar" activity. Thank you to our volunteers for taking the time out of their Friday morning to volunteer!

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  • Engineering Day at the Franklin Institute - February 22, 2020

    The YMF had their 7th K-12 Outreach program of the 2019-2020 school year at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. K-12 Outreach co-chairs, Dani Schroeder and CJ Medora, were joined by Egla Qori (AECOM), Caroline Voigtsberger (NV5), Assunta Daprano (AECOM), John Doyle (TPD), Mohammed Alsalihi (Temple University), Linda Douthwaite (Pennoni), Natasha S. (Villanova University), and Kerianne Chen (Drexel University). Over 350 kids and their families stopped by the ASCE booth to learn about Civil Engineering, and try the Discover Engineering activity called “Shoo, Bird, Shoo.” This activity, created by Discover Engineering, has attendees design and build a mobile that warns birds away from a window or building. The event concluded with a Demonstration by the Ben Franklin National Memorial that uses liquid nitrogen and warm water to fire the plastic ball pit balls into the air! Thank you to the Engineers Club of Philadelphia and the Franklin Institute for coordinating this event as well as Discover Engineering for the DiscoverE Engineers Week Grant to fund this event. Special thank you also to all our dedicated volunteers who took time out of their Saturday to volunteer.

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