Summer Transportation Institute (STIP)
The purpose of the VSU Summer Transportation Institute is to create awareness and stimulate interest in secondary school students to take maximum advantage of the opportunities that exist in the transportation industry.
Virginia State University has a continuing commitment to provide quality education for all students and openly seeks every opportunity to expand efforts to assist them. In conjunction with the mission of Virginia State University, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Department of Aviation, and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the VSU STI seeks to provide educational experiences for high school students that enhance career awareness in the transportation industry. The highly stimulating program will introduce students to:
- transportation systems
- transportation of human and other cargo
- alternative sources of energy in transportation systems
- innovations in transportation
- careers in transportation
- transportation infrastructure
- environmental impacts of transportation systems
- construction engineering issues
- safety
- research, technology and its application in the transportation industry
The VSU Summer Transportation Institute is a four-week residential program for fifteen (15) students. The primary target group is ninth to twelfth-grade students. Since inception, the VSU STI has been committed to a residential program because it is through that concept the program can reach participants who otherwise would not be able to avail themselves of this type of program.
The institute is designed to familiarize students with potential careers in transportation and introduce them to college life, as well as offer preparatory academic training and socialization skills that will enhance college success. In addition to transportation related subjects, the program will include sessions on time management, communication skills and team work. The classroom training will be supplemented and reinforced by closely supervised hands-on activities as well as field-trips to Steven Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Virginia Department of Transportation Central Office, Virginia Department of Transportation / Sandston Material Lab, City of Norfolk Spirit of Norfolk, and Virginia Port Authority (Port of Richmond). In addition, enhancement activities such as oral and written communication skills, computer usage, time management, sports are built into VSU NSTI.
The VSU STI project sets out to achieve the following two main objectives: (1) to stimulate high school students to pursue higher education in transportation related fields by exposing them to college life and the benefits of a college education, and (2) to increase the direct involvement of various government agencies and the private sector in this endeavor.
Strong support for the Summer Transportation Institute has been given by the VDOT, Department of Aviation, and FHWA personnel in both funding and participation.