Actions Necessary to Make Civil Engineering More Attractive to High‐Quality High School Students

Abstract

The future members and leaders of the civil engineering profession are today's high school students. Two main problems confront the profession as it tries to attract excellent students to the field of civil engineering: (1) The lack of student awareness; and (2) the notion that civil engineering is not a challenging field. This paper outlines the need for civil engineering to attract bright high school students, focusing on four major areas: (1) Communication; (2) student involvement; (3) field trips; and (4) the adequate training of high school teachers and counselors.