Classroom Presentations

Classroom presentations allow us to partner with teachers and reach students in schools. We have proudly participated in classroom presentations with preschoolers all the way up to graduate students. We have done virtual, hybrid, and in-person classroom presentations.

Sacramento State University – Civil Engineering

In an upper division civil engineering course, the Authority Director of Sustainability and Station Planning joined students at Sacramento State to detail the Authority’s work to transform the construction industry through new and innovative sustainability standards.

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Outreach tabling allow students and teachers to have one-on-one conversations with Authority staff. The Authority team can provide tailored resources and give the students and teachers an opportunity to discuss their interests and passions about transportation.

Think STEAM Expo

The Authority made a splash at the 11th annual Students Think STEAM Expo at Los Angeles Trade Technical College organized by the National College Resources Foundation. Elementary, middle, and high school students from all over Southern California came to engage with interactive exhibits and hands-on activities. The Authority hosted an outreach table and had more than 200 students stop by the table to guess how fast our trains will travel, chat with our staff, and learn about the California high-speed rail. Students asked probing questions about engineering, reflected on how their lives would change if they could visit family members on the other side of the state more efficiently, and took many selfies with our build-it-yourself conductor hats and model high-speed rail trains.

Kids Activity Tables

Kids outreach tables help younger students learn about high-speed rail with hands-on activities. The Authority has activities that help students learn about high-speed rail station planning, engineering, communication, and so much more! We work collaboratively with organizations to find or create an activity that suits the event’s learning and engagement objectives.

California State Railroad Museum

We regularly visit the California State Railroad Museum and bring a fun planning map for students to build their rail line through a city. In this activity, kids must consider communities, the environment, station sites, railroad crossings, bridges, and tunnels!

Central Valley Construction Tour (Fresno, CA)

With 171 miles under advanced design or construction, the Authority is proud to offer construction tours for high school and college students in California’s Central Valley. These tours offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a transportation mega-project up close and speak directly to the experts building the nation’s first true high-speed rail system. Construction tours must be requested no less than one month in advance of requested date and are subject to approval by the Authority.

The requestor will then be responsible for logistics including transportation, food, water, etc. Attendees are required to sign a liability waiver and are required to be dressed appropriately to visit an active construction site. This includes shoes that offer full coverage of the feet, pants that cover the ankles, shirts with sleeves, etc. Students that are not dressed appropriately will not be allowed on the construction site due to safety protocols. Tour dates are also subject to change or be cancelled due to extreme weather and safety concerns including heat advisories, air advisories, etc.

Central Valley Students – Fresno State University Engineering

Fresno State and many regional universities in California’s Central Valley are aware of their unique and dynamic opportunity with high-speed rail construction in their backyard. In this highlighted tour,  students in Fresno State’s railroad engineering course, taught by Dr. John Green, visited various project sites like the Hanford Viaduct, a precast girder facility, and the future Fresno station area. Not only did students get to step foot on high-speed rail structures, but they also got to hear from engineers working on the project.

Northern California Students: Mineta Transportation Institute – High-School Summer Program  

We have led various construction tours with high school students from the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) summer program at San José State University. This was the first group of Northern California high school students to see construction in California’s Central Valley. In this visit, students were provided construction safety attire and stepped foot on active construction sites, providing them a once in a lifetime opportunity to walk on structures before trains are running.

Southern California Students: San Gabriel Valley Foothill Consortium High-School Program

Since 2022, the Authority and the K through 12 Foothill Consortium (Consortium) that support Azusa, Duarte, Charter Oak, and Monrovia Unified School Districts have developed a distinctive partnership. With this partnership, the Authority and the Consortium provided the opportunity for the first-ever Southern California based students to tour high-speed rail construction. Thus far, 70 Southern California students have toured construction in California’s Central Valley. These visits provide Career and Technical Education students with firsthand exposure to high-speed rail construction and inspire future careers in transportation and infrastructure.

Northern California Alignment Tours (San José, CA)

Between San Francisco and San José, high-speed rail will use the existing Caltrain corridor. The Authority contributed about one-third of the cost of Caltrain’s Electrification Project, which was completed in 2024. This site visit allows students to tour the San José to San Francisco alignment aboard Caltrain to see firsthand features of the California high-speed rail alignment in the Bay Area. 

We kindly ask that tours be requested no less than one month in advance of requested date. They are subject to approval by the Authority. The requestor will then be responsible for logistics including transportation, food, water, etc.

Stanford Energy Students Northern California Alignment Tour 

Stanford students in the Summer Undergraduate Program on Energy Research took a Northern California alignment tour. In this site visit, students toured components of the San Jose to San Francisco alignment and learned about the Caltrain electrification project, future maintenance facilities, and the Salesforce Transit Center.

Webinars

Webinars have been a great avenue to reach students all over the world. The Authority has proudly hosted webinars on many unique topics. We have also partnered with many organizations to join as speakers and panelists on their webinar platforms.

Engineers Week Webinar

Over the past few years, the Authority has hosted an education-based engineers week webinar in February to take a deep dive on an engineering related topic. In 2022, we covered topics of engineering innovations and in 2023 we discussed modern station designs. We are always looking for more topics that are useful and interesting to students.

Club Presentations

Student-led organizations provide students opportunities to build professional networks and collaborate with their peers on topics they are passionate about. We enjoy being part of student-led events and presentations and lets us engage directly with students to present on subject areas meaningful to their education.

UC Merced – Western Regional Students, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

The Authority joined the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at the UC Merced campus for a student led conference for Latina members in the western regional chapters. The SHPEtina conference served as a gathering location for Latina students and young professionals to network and learn from presenters. The Authority led two session presentations that focused on networking and mentorship.