Tulsa District hosted a group of seven Junior Reserve Officer Training cadets from Will Rogers Collage High School for a tour of the Keystone Dam. The tour was part of the District’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program to promote engineering as career.
The students were treated to a guided tour of the dam, powerhouse and the walkway beneath state highway 151 as it crosses the dam. The walkway was especially fascinating for one of the students, Dartanion Tilley, who said, “Thank you for inviting the Rogers JROTC to take a tour of the dam and for the briefing on what all will be done with this project to replace the upper deck. I thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to ask questions and getting answered in a way that was understandable.”
David Tilley (Sgt 1st Class Ret.) accompanying the cadets on their tour was enthusiastic about the chance to have his students get firsthand knowledge of people actually performing engineering jobs. He said, “Out of the 13 years that I have been working with the Corps and S.A.M.E., (Society of American Military Engineers) this is the most informative venture that we have had. Thanks for the opportunity and education that you shared with my students.”
Tom Henry, Keystone Power Plant Specialist who conducted the tour said, “I’m always interested in bringing high school students in to see what we do. They are all motivated to go to college but probably don’t know yet what they want to do. I think we should do more partnering with high school kids because they are the future workers for the Corps.”
When asked, many of the students said the tour had really got them to start thinking about engineering as a career. One in particular student, Breanna Lanning said, “I’m very glad that you gave us the chance to take a tour around the Keystone Dam. I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career, but now I have opened my mind to possibly going into engineering.”