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Platform Chats
Platform Chats
Student Resources and Career Paths
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Are you a student looking to find your career path? While you may not have even considered railroading, let us put it on your radar. Many of the engineering (yes, even civil), technical, and communications fields apply to the railroading industry and there are resources available to students to help them find their way. In this episode, Walt Bleser chats with Bryan Schlake an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State-Altoona, and recent Penn State-Altoona graduate Gary Babcoke now a Project Engineer with NICTD. Both are mechanical engineers who have extensive experience navigating the AREMA Student Program, from attending a Conference to applying for scholarships, to forming a Student Chapter, and now working in the railroad industry - they have tried it all. Their stories are a testament to making the most of your resources and taking advantage of every opportunity when starting your career in rail.
Yeah, I mean I just if if there's somebody already interested somewhat in in the rail industry of some sort like you know hey I might you know want to just go work for Norfolk Southern as a train crew or a track um but they they have that kind of engineering background they they you know maybe want to take that next step I think that's the the conversation to have is well hey if you're looking for a railroad specific uh you know uh career um why not give this a try? If that's something that you know you want to go into uh that this rail industry these these programs are uh definitely a great way to take that next step because not only do they have the course related content they also have the connections to AREMA they have the connections to uh a bunch of industry people that are already out there that can help you uh that take that step from high school to college and then from college to either research or college to a full-time career uh with the railroad uh consulting group or whatever.
SPEAKER_00I mean that's that's really I think the the reason to go uh to these specific programs as compared to just a typical engineering degree you may know the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association or AREMA as the quote keepers of the manuals you may know them as the quote people behind the largest annual railroad conference in North America. Heck you may not know about AREMA at all. This podcast is designed no pun intended to change your view of who AREMA is and how AREMA has changed the trajectory of many railway careers over its 100 plus year history. Welcome to Platform Chats with your host Walt Lesser where he takes a moment to discuss the impacts AREMA has had on the very people who are proud to be called members.
SPEAKER_01Are you ready to roll with AREMA ARE Corporation is a proud supporter of AREMA and platform chats. If you are looking to take your Railway structure's career to the next level or simply start it down the right track please visit us at ARECorp.com. Please see our brand new job postings on our careers page or on our LinkedIn page hey everybody and welcome back to Platform Chats.
SPEAKER_03I am your host Walt Blesser again uh eventually I will probably be replaced by somebody but I don't know who that's gonna be uh until Arima headquarters lets me go I will continue to fulfill this role and uh I'll be honest with you I enjoy doing it I hope you enjoy our podcast I hope you enjoy the content we have provided to you thus far uh we've heard some great things in the feedback and in the direct messages I appreciate them you can reach out to me the easiest way to get a hold of me is find me on LinkedIn uh my last name is spelled with one F. Uh it's pretty easy to find me shoot me a message I appreciate those that have already done so uh good news we are officially the number nine out of 35 top railway industry podcast so we we kind of sunk below 10 there for a minute and we came back to to the top 10 as number nine. I guess if we put out more uh content we might go up a little faster but I got news for you folks I've got another job yes I know shocker I actually do something other than the Arima platform chats podcast so let's uh let's get to it without further ado I again I appreciate uh feedback I hope everybody enjoyed the conference recap when I was uh strolling the halls throughout the conference center they're here in Denver Colorado I I uh ran into some folks in the uh I believe it was the student or new young professionals networking group which was pretty cool they were they were playing some sort of bingo uh which actually turned out to be pretty fun because you had to kind of work your way around the room and meet people and fill out your bingo card and it was a good little networking activity. We had several uh college and university students there as well as some professors and of course some industry people and that's where I met Brian and I said Brian hey I think we should do a podcast and talk a little bit about something that we've ignored to date which you know this is podcast number 20 believe it or not this will be the first time we really get into student chapters at ARIMA as well as scholarship opportunities for students and and talking a little bit about how interested uh students can get into the railway industry and how AREMA membership and or interaction could benefit them. So okay sorry for the long intro that was that could be a record and uh apologize for that. But without further ado Brian Schlake is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State Altoona and I also have uh last but not least Gary Babcoe who is a project engineer for the Westlake Corridor of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and uh if those of you with a good memory know that is where Vic Babin recently retired. And so I'm sure Gary knows Vic and we appreciate we appreciate Vic's time at Arima. So Brian hey why don't you jump in here and uh give us a little bit of background on who you are and how you got to the seat you're in right now.
SPEAKER_05For sure good to be with you Walt and uh yeah thanks for having us on. I've had a I guess a longer career with Arima or experience with Arima than I realized. I originally thought that my membership started in 2008 but I guess it started back in 2006 when I was still I guess a junior at the University of Illinois. I was not one of the the people that grew up loving railroads or even knowing anything about the railroad I'm from Chicago suburbs Naperville and we do have a the the BNSF Speedway triple track that comes right through my town but uh we didn't ride the train a whole lot and I wasn't really exposed to it much until my junior or no this was my sophomore year of college as a mechanical engineering student in at the University of Illinois. I was just looking for a summer internship and I put my information down on our career services thing and they would try to match you with with different opportunities and somehow I got matched with Norfolk Southern Railroad and got a co-op ended up getting an interview and co-oping with Norfolk Southern in their transportation department in uh Decatur Illinois which was a short drive so I ended up co-oping at one summer one spring and it was through that experience I actually learned about the railroad engineering program at at University of Illinois and so I started taking some classes with Chris Barkin and I could use those as tech collectives for my mechanical engineering degree which is great. But then um as I was thinking about graduation I didn't really know quite what to do and I was attending the different um weekly seminar that Chris Barkin's group was doing and hearing the presentations from the grad students and one right before I graduated I remember Chris leaned over and he said what are you doing next next semester after you graduate because I was graduating in December because of the co-op and I had interviewed some places but nothing nailed down and I said I'm not sure he said well what about doing research with us so I ended up going to graduate school at University of Illinois doing research on railway inspection systems and that's how I got introduced to AREMA and attended my first ARIMA I think in 2007 and I also received a couple of ARIMA scholarships along the way I didn't actually I thought it was one but looking back in my um in my C V there was actually two the John J. Cunningham Memorial Scholarship in 2007 and the Larry Atherton Atherton Foundation scholarship in 2008 and that was like for the first time I I really saw the value of an organization like Arima in that wow they're putting they're putting money where where their mouth is they're actually investing in the next generation and it was because of that partly um I enjoyed the conferences but it was also that the the scholarships that that that got me interested in becoming more involved and so in 2008 I realized they were pushing the the Arima student chapters but there was only one at the time there was one in Michigan Tech. And I thought well you know why not we s why don't we start another one and so I helped start the chapter at UIUC and became the founding president and uh I could share more about that in a little bit but um that was a great experience and then ended up going off to work for Norfolk Southern for several years and and they put me in Altoona Pennsylvania and I got to do a few guest lectures with the the budding RTE program Rail Transportation Engineering program at Penn State Altoona and they didn't have an ARIMA student chapter at the time and so I thought hey why don't we start a chapter at Penn State Altoona and so I helped them get started. I worked with Dr. Hai Huang and and helped them get their chapter launched in 2013 and so a couple years later I decided to I you know what I really do love being around college students and I love teaching so I took a job teaching with Penn State Altoona and now I'm the advisor for the Arima chapter which is I think one of the if not the largest student club on campus. So it's uh I think we got like 45 members right now. It's a very active club and um yeah arema has been it's been a great experience just this is the uh the whole kind of since 2006 my involvement has really been a um huge blessing to my career but also to the relationships I've formed within the industry.
SPEAKER_03Fantastic and before I I jump in here with Gary um you said uh the Illinois chapter was second. What was Penn State?
SPEAKER_05Oh that's a good question. I think by then there was at least 20 chapters um we might have been just under the 20th shortly after that it was up to like maybe 24 chapters. Okay. Since COVID I think they're down a little bit uh some chapters had a hard time wait uh getting through the the challenging years of COVID but but yeah I want to say we're definitely in the top 20 of chapters being formed.
SPEAKER_03Okay cool. All right Gary thank you for waiting patiently for almost 10 minutes until you get to open your mouth so I appreciate that have at it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah no problem Walt thanks for having us both on so uh starting back with my great grandfather he was a fireman for the Pennsylvania Railroad uh over in Fort Wayne and my grandfather was a car inspector for the Wabash Railroad also in Fort Wayne and if you allow a two generation hiatus uh I am in the picture now as a third generation railroad. So uh it all started I I believe in in terms of railroading um 10 years ago I I started volunteering at a local uh museum a steam museum it's not just railroads I I uh it's it's a lot of other steam powered equipment um but they do one of their star uh exhibits is uh a narrow gauge railroad and so I started volunteering there at at the age of 12 uh in 2012 um and when it came time after high school was just about done and getting ready to graduate getting you know looking at uh colleges around Indiana of course uh for any engineering student I think Purdue University is like the the kind of the go-to for mechanical engineering and uh that's what I had always looked at. However on a trip out to Pennsylvania um with my family I came across an ad on Facebook for the Penn State Altoona Railroad Transportation Engineering Program and of course with the railroad background that I had at the museum I I kind of was always interested in in doing something after college railroad related and so uh seeing that advertisement I I did a quick look into the rail engineering program on the on the website um that was became one of the top three schools that I I wanted to go to uh and I was really lucky to get accepted there and uh start my career off at uh Penn State Altoona in the in the rail engineering program there. Um and I got very involved in the AREMA student chapter pretty early on um my freshman year I I ran for the treasurer and I I uh got elected as the treasurer and stayed with it uh the the remaining three years uh that I was there and graduated just this year in in May of 2022. Um outside of the AREMA chapter uh I had a few different internships of course COVID uh during all that time as a college student was uh pretty difficult um my first internship was actually intended to be Wabtech uh to work out in Erie Pennsylvania for them but of course uh with COVID they ended up canceling their internship program and so uh that's what kind of brought me to somewhere closer to home where I didn't need to to worry about you know the cost of living or whatnot if I had signed an agreement you know being far away. So that's what got me started here at the South Shore line in the summer of 2020 uh I worked in their mechanical department um just day-to-day blue card inspections and whatnot on our on our railroad equipment. My second internship I again was in the mechanical department in our uh capital projects our overhaul program uh where we tear down our our 1982 built passenger cars and rebuild them from the ground up uh and being that they're very special uh cars there's very few uh like them in the country uh we do a lot of the our rebuild in-house so we acquire all of our materials and whatnot and do most of the work ourselves so that of course brings me to senior year um and I got the opportunity offered to me to come to our Westlake project uh we're building um an eight mile new railroad from Hammond Indiana down to Dyer Indiana um with four new stations a a yard facility um and like I said it's it's all brand new so that's uh that was a great opportunity and I accepted and that's where I am today I'm a projects engineer for our Westlake Corridor project here at uh the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District so yeah thanks for having me on and uh look forward to our conversation so yeah that was a great uh intro and you're not kidding that's a great opportunity to come out of school and jump right into a greenfield project like that uh I think the last time uh people could say that was maybe 1867 uh when Ed Sparks was just starting out his career uh with and just so we're clear uh Ed Sparks' wife does listen to these and she finds all the Ed Sparks Easter eggs so I just want to put that out there that I I enjoy dropping those in there.
SPEAKER_03That's a great story. I I I I do have a question. I know you said your bachelor's is in railroad transportation engineering. So now technically are you a civil engineer a mechanical engineer or is this a different uh realm altogether?
SPEAKER_02Sure so I can answer that and of course if I get anything wrong Brian you're more than welcome to to chime in. So the Railroad Transportation Engineering Program is a uh ABET accredited civil engineering program we do most of our coursework is civil engineering but we do cover mechanical and electrical engineering aspects uh that are specific to the railroad but yeah our our ABET accreditation I do believe is in civil engineering so uh actually I have to jump in and correct you yeah so we have our own designation Gary uh yeah so it's uh it's a it's a distinct major rail transportation engineering is its own major the core the core education is in civil engineering like Gary said but our students could either take the civil engineering fundles of fundamentals of engineering exam or the general engineering exam um so we're a little bit of an oddball for ABET but um yeah it is the first uh and currently the only um rail transportation engineering degree that's been accredited by the uh the ABET board okay in order to get a PE if one so chooses exactly yeah and we've had students go on and get their PE's as well okay but you're both technically I mean you know Brian you're a mechanical is what I think my background is mechanical yes and Gary's working mostly in mechanical it sounds like so yeah two days been mostly mechanical yeah yeah okay so for my structure's brothers and sisters out there let the record show I have two mechanical uh engineers on today's show with no structural representation just one of the three civil engineers uh out of our five full-time rail faculty so okay fair well I do like to hear that that's a oddball the electrical engineer we're the oddballs but hey you can't run trains without uh without a locomotive and uh engine right uh well who knows I don't know if you guys came to the uh came to the presentation we did on Wednesday morning we talked a lot about the the future of rail and and potentially uh electrified locomotives and and autonomous uh vehicles and potentially having self-propelled cars who knows who knows what we'll see we need at least the traction motors though and let's also be clear here when I say we Brian I also heard Gary say that uh when he was 12 years old in 2012 I'm no slouch Brian but that tells me he was born in 2000.
SPEAKER_03I was I was not I'm gonna tell you that right now so he might get to see those engines. Let's Brian I'm gonna either one of you can take this question. But if you have a someone I I want to use Gary as an example but you know you have someone that's young 12 to 15 maybe going maybe they're in high school and and they are sitting down at the dinner table talking to their folks about what they want to do for a living and they really think that hey rail sounds interesting um I I would really like to get a degree in rail and let's let's put that person out here in Denver with me you know where does one look how many programs undergraduate programs are there for rail uh education in this country that you know of and how would that individual even find something like the Penn State I would never think of the Penn State El Tuna campus.
SPEAKER_02No offense to either either of you I just I don't know how one would discover I only know about Illinois uh just because I've been in the industry long enough to know that's the old granddaddy school and I know Wisconsin because uh Wisconsin does a lot of professional education uh teaching which I'm part of their faculty doing the the uh the stuff for those that are you know are there in the already in the industry so I I think of Wisconsin I think of Illinois uh Michigan you mentioned Michigan I've seen them at a remain tech yeah Michigan Tech excuse me and then you guys so how how does that individual even find out is that a too hard of a great first question that's a great question um I'll take a stab and then Gary would love to hear you uh jump in it's it's fun to be on this podcast with Gary too he uh he was one of the uh stellar graduates from the program and and designing air brakes in his free time uh while air break systems and so uh it's it's fun to be on here with you Gary but um I do want to say what we when we get prospective students in our office we typically share with them you know there's other programs out there you can look at and we we almost always bring them to the AREMA student chapter website and show them these are all the schools that have an AREMA student chapter and that's the first place to look because you know at least they have some interest in rail and I mean as far as dedicated programs there's not a lot out there we have the only bachelors of science Michigan Tech has a minor in railway engineering UIU University of Illinois are ban of champagne rail tech has a master's of engineering and then they have a number of courses that undergraduates can take for sure um but yeah it's beyond that it's a lot of schools that do research to some extent in the railway industry and then there's you know some faculty that have an interest in rail that can keep the the room of student chapter um functioning but that's usually the first place I send them is hey look at the room of student chapter uh website see where these schools are that have at least some interest in rail and um beyond that I'm not sure Gary you said you've you heard about the program through Facebook right yeah I mean I can chime in I think our graduating class is actually like the perfect combination of examples so there's a graduate our graduating class was six I believe Brian I think you can confirm that yeah um myself I I found out through Facebook uh so through uh promotion advertising and whatnot um another one of our graduates Kevin heard um through a friend uh through conversation so you have that kind of word to mouth uh two students Evan and Jake um both found out after they had uh they both are grew up in Altoona, uh, just went to Penn State Altoona for just a generic engineering degree and then um heard about the rail engineering program, heard that the rail industry is uh looking for more engineers, looking for more people to get involved. And um, with Penn State Altoona's job acceptance rate out of the RTE degree, figured that hey, why not give that a go? It's it sounds like uh a great place to be in. Um we had a another student, Thomas, um, that came for uh transferred in from another university uh after hearing about the rail engineering program. And then, of course, Malik had uh done some sort of uh transportation-related high school type of thing and and found uh the rail program that way. So I uh like I said, Brian, I think that we had a great combination of like all the different ways you could hear about I think the rail engineering program uh through us. And I I think Michigan Tay uh yeah, Michigan Tech and a few other of the other universities that offer something similar uh probably find people, find prospective students the same way.
SPEAKER_03So, Gary, let's put a bow on that. If you were talking to this kid, let's say he's 17, 18 years old out here and he's my neighbor, uh, what are you gonna tell him?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I just if if there's somebody already interested somewhat in in the rail industry of some sort like, you know, hey, I might, you know, want to just go work for Norfolk Southern as a train crew or a track, um, but they they have that kind of engineering background, they they you know maybe want to take that next step. I think that's the the conversation to have as well, hey, if you're looking for a railroad specific uh you know uh career, um why not give this a try? If that's something that you know you want to go into, uh that this rail industry, these these programs are definitely a great way to take that next step because not only do they have the course-related content, they also have the connections to AREMA, they have the connections to uh a bunch of industry people that are already out there that can help you uh that take that step from high school to college, and then from college to either research or college to a full-time career uh with the railroad uh consulting group or whatever. I mean, that's that's really I think the the reason to go uh to these specific programs as compared to just a typical engineering degree.
SPEAKER_03So perfect. Yeah, and I think it sounds like uh to just take that a little further. It these these student chapters, let's take a step back to what Brian talked about in the introduction. Um you said the second one was at Illinois. And when I, you know, I know Illinois and Dr. Hay go way back in this industry, and uh, and their association with AREMA uh is very well documented. Um and I know I have several colleagues and folks that I work with on the committees that went to Illinois. Um some of them never left Champaign. Uh they're still there either doing research or they're they they've opened up consulting firms. So that do you know when the first one started? I mean, are these because what I'm hearing is if you were number two in 2006 or seven, this is this is some pretty recent history.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, number Illinois was 2008, so Michigan Tech, my guess would have been 2006, five or six. But um yeah, it is recent history. I mean, uh but at the same time, the there just weren't a lot of railroad programs or focus on rail within universities until then. Um the Illinois program was quite small. It was it wasn't even called Rail Tech yet in 2008, it was just the Railroad Engineering Program. So these programs have grown. I think some government funding has grown. But to be honest, ARIMA has done an amazing job in encouraging this um growth within the industry, within various universities. Uh I mean I have been incredibly impressed with the way that Arima has supported student chapters. So when we started our chapter um in 2008 at Illinois, all of the materials were already put together. They had a by a bylaws that you could use, a draft, a constitution, all these things to where it made life easy for me to just kind of plug and play. And um the challenge was getting students interested. We had we had an in general interest meeting uh to say, hey, who would like to come join this club? And we had five people showed up to show up to that meeting. So we said, okay, uh including myself. We're gonna be the officers, who wants to do what? Because we needed at least five students to be the um officers to start a club at Illinois. So everyone in the room got to become an officer, and then um and then we went from there. But but Arima support supported us in terms of getting it launched. Um I had to send a few emails to make sure we got our charter um letter to say that we actually were official. But beyond that, $1,000 a year Arima gives to Arima student chapters just to function. Beyond that, going to conferences, they'll give you up to $1,000 for your chapter just to attend a conference. I don't know of any other North national organization that supports student chapters in that way. And so this to get back to you know, how do you convince a student who's interested or or might be interested in the industry? Uh if they can get involved with an arema student chapter, they can and if we can get them to one of these these conferences, national conferences, their eyes are just open. They can see all of the you know how just how massive the industry is. And you know, that I think can make a big difference between a student going into the railway industry and not, especially if they get a scholarship. That you know, that adds on even more. But our biggest challenge, and we're working on this. Um, I've been working with Dr. Posse Latala at Michigan Tech, and uh he's been leading a lot of the efforts, as well as Tyler Dick at Illinois, and now he's at Texas. We've written a a Rima paper on this. But how do you the biggest challenge is what about students who are not interested in the railroad industry at all? Gary said, okay, if they have some interest, we can direct them, but what about uh the student interested in mechanical or civil who doesn't even know that the railroad is a viable career path? That's where we really need to hit hit hard.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh, you know, I went to uh Kansas State undergrad and I did my master's at KU and both universities had a relatively strong uh ASCE chapter in the civil group. And um I remember that vividly as we met, I think once a month during the week, pizza was provided, and some sort of owner or consultant came in and provided a uh you know large project PowerPoint, you know, no different than what we see in some of the technical presentations at Arima. Almost never did I see rail. Uh I've gone back and spoken at K-State uh and done I did a moveable bridge presentation, and I remember the kids coming up going, wow, like I didn't know this existed. Yeah. And it just makes me wonder like, is there an opportunity here for the two chapters or the student chapters to work together or or have a REMA night at the ASCE meeting? Because ASCE has seems like they've really got their fingers in the universities, or maybe that's just my uh what I just what I've seen.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, that's a good point. I mean, work with what's already established there. I've presented at the REMA student chapter at University Park here at Penn State. And I know other after talking to Dr. Riley Edwards at Illinois, I know he's presented at at uh CE ASCE meetings. But at the same time, at a large university, uh you know, any large university that has a civil component, I think would be able to sustain an AREMA chapter. And with the type of support AREMA has, um I mean the ASCE chapters I don't think are getting a thousand dollars a year just to function. And so I think there's gonna be, you know, you find those students who have an initial interest in rail, and um, I think that's gonna be a great way to continue to encourage students entering this field. We really have to reach them earlier in junior high and high school, but um but keeping that interest in college is gonna be so important because that's that launch pad into the career, like Gary has has um showed.
SPEAKER_03It is, and there seems to be more of an emphasis. I mean, Gary was STEM like a thing when you were in high school. It was not when I was in high school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was. Um, and that's I think part of the reason why I was looking more into an engineering program than uh maybe a different type of degree. Um I spent some time in high school at in our manufacturing shop. We we had a full full-on machine shop with CNC Mills and Lays. And so I think that's what even drove me toward uh working on like a mechanical engineering degree. Um, but uh knowing that I I did want to go into the railroad industry going into the RT degree, even though I uh Brian, I think you would agree is is a mostly civil engineering uh type degree, it still has those other aspects, and and that seemed like the good fit for me.
SPEAKER_03So okay. Yeah, and I fun fact, I actually took some uh night classes in an automotive technology group as I was rebuilding a vehicle and thought, oh man, this is this is so cool. We were rebuilding a transmission off a 1940s Jeep, and I thought for sure I'm gonna be a mechanical engineer, and then I took dynamics. And uh here I am. So uh, you know, doesn't always trans uh translate directly, but it definitely can steer your career one way or another. Uh so the student chapters, I you know, I keep coming back to that, but uh I I do want to talk briefly about scholarships too. But it sounds to me like if if anyone's listening um and has interest in starting a student chapter at a school and doesn't have one, please reach out to me or Brian or Gary. Um however you get you can look up us up uh through LinkedIn is probably the easiest way to do it. Uh or just Google our names and you can probably find out something. And uh I guarantee you any one of us, I'm probably gonna let's just let's just get this straight. I'm gonna delegate this to Brian. Uh would be love would love to help you start out or point you in the right direction to start a chapter. Um and once we get the chapter, so Brian, where does the scholarship piece are are they intertwined or uh it's my understanding that you could you could be attending a school that has no chapter and still apply for a scholarship if you're aware said scholarship exists.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so the scholarships are all run through Arima Committee 24, and that and that's also where I would probably uh delegate some of the emails that come in about the uh starting a chapter. Um and because they there's a whole committee within ARIMA promoting education and training and and promoting the student chapters and also um making decisions about the scholarships. So there's scholarship committees that take those applications, and every December those applications go in, and they're they're just writing checks. I mean, as a as a and this I was in grad school at the time, but I can't imagine as an undergrad, you know, to get a check for a thousand dollars. I mean, man, that covers your books for a couple semesters. Even today, I think that's probably true. Um and so that's one that I think really um there's been the debate do you have fewer big scholarships or more small scholarships to try to get more interest? And that's a debate that Arima 24 has been having. Um but either way, I mean, for students to get real hard money, um, that makes a difference. You know, you're gonna come back and think, okay, what what is it about this industry? And and uh yeah, I don't know for you, Gary, what you you got two scholarships with through Arima or just this recent one?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I did. I I received one um in in 2020 and 2021, and uh and I'll talk a little bit about kind of how I heard uh about the scholarships. Um we of course have our Arima State chapter at Penn State Altoona, and um through the chapter we were able to attend, uh are able to attend all the uh annual conferences. Um and I heard about the scholarship opportunities through the the conferences, uh through the student events and whatnot, and figured, you know, why not, you know, apply and and see see what happens. And and so I was I'm very grateful to have received the the two scholarships, the 2021 and and the 2021 one. Um it in the the most difficult part about selecting Penn State is uh or was um that it was out of out of state for me. So there's the additional cost of an out-of-state student coming from Indiana to Pennsylvania. Um, and so that the the two scholarships, and like Brian said, I mean, it's the check. So I mean, I just put that toward um you know my housing costs, I believe, uh and just you know, um whatever I could to just kind of bring down the cost of of the school to more of an in-state uh type tuition and whatnot. Um and it's it's nice to know that there's there's people out there, that there's foundations out there that support students and and coming into this industry. And I think Arima has done a very good job so far of um making the the opportunities available for all these scholarships and awarding awarding them to students. So yeah, I thank thank Arima for for doing that, uh, for all the the scholarships and uh the student chapters and giving students these opportunities uh and kind of that support that this is the right industry to be in.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, I I know there is an Arima Foundation. I know that having been involved in leadership of committees for many years, it was very uh scattered, the scholarships. Uh I mean, right down to certain committees had their own uh literally cash collection in the middle of a meeting to raise a thousand or two thousand dollars of cash, and then they would donate that in someone's name, uh, say a long-standing member of one of the structural committees. And I know they they've been trying hard to kind of put that all together under one umbrella, which I believe is called the Arima Foundation, which honestly I should probably do a podcast on that because I think that's a whole nother area that we haven't really touched on. So but to to kind of just circle back, it sounds like the best way to establish a student chapter is is to reach out to committee 24. That's easy to find. And then the scholarship, they they can help you with scholarship uh direct information as well at that location. But it keeps coming back to the conference, and it sounds like the getting, you know, Brian, getting those students to the big conference, interacting with industry leaders, walking the floor of the expo hall, uh and by being a member of a student chapter, is it free? Or what for the for the students?
SPEAKER_05It is, and and that's the other amazing thing is the conference is entirely registration is free. And this is, I mean, it's a thousand dollars. Yeah, are spending yeah, close to a thousand dollars just to attend the conference. So it for the students to be able to attend for free is incredible. Very few industry conferen conferences actually offer that. But then on top of that, for if you have an AREMA student chapter at your school, they'll send the chapter $1,000 to help support um the you know, a lot of the rest of the the costs. So for us, the way it works out is students, if it's if it's a far location where we have to fly, students typically at least get their hotels covered. They may have to, the club may have to figure out how they're gonna fund getting to the conference, but the registration is free, and with that thousand dollars, typically the the hotels are free.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and I know uh well I'm pretty sure the next one's in Indianapolis, which is pretty pretty centrally located. So if you're listening, this that would be a great opportunity to start kind of doing the legwork on uh attending that conference if as a student or as a student chapter. Um I thought it was that the the whatever you and I went to, Brian, I guess that was the Meet the Next Generation. Meet the next generation. Thank you. Uh I guarantee you, Erica uh Brunky is gonna be upset that I did not know the name of that the uh event. But regardless, I was really impressed with how many people in that room were students. I mean, there there had to be there had to be 50 plus students in just that room. So what a great opportunity to kind of get a feel for what it is this industry even does. I I think it's so hard to sit down with someone who's 17 or 18 and you know start talking about what they want to do when they grow up, especially in this world of we're competing with so much technology um to get them excited about what we're doing, even though we have a lot of technology in what we do, uh, we are still a very old industry. Um, and that comes sometimes with stereotypes.
SPEAKER_05So very cool. I did not know that. To kind of piggyback up what you were saying, that Meet the Next Generation event is uh incredible for students to attend because there's such a demand among employers. The students were telling me that they had employers coming up to them almost like a reverse uh job fair because there was such a demand. And I found that to be true back when I started attending as a student. I remember at the time Arima had a program where they were collecting resumes of students and you could put them into this resume um platform that employers could look at. And I remember coming back from the conference after actually going to the job fair, but coming back a few days later after the conference, and I'm getting calls from employers saying, Hey, do you have a job yet for the summer? And it's just like, where else in the world are you gonna find employers calling you and asking you if you want to do an internship?
SPEAKER_03Uh, not too many places, that's for sure. Well, I could probably keep going another 20 minutes with you guys, and I really appreciate uh your time uh just talking about the different student chapters, talking about the scholarships. Gary, thank you for shedding some light on how to even find out about railway transportation uh degrees. Uh both of you seem like you'd be great resources if anyone that's listening wants to reach out directly. Uh if you can't find their contact information, again, just look for me. I can absolutely point you in the right direction. Um, Brian or Gary, any closing thoughts?
SPEAKER_02Sure, Walter. I mean, thanks for having us both on. Um, like you said, I mean, I'm I'm on LinkedIn and my email is just my first name.lastname at nictd.com. Anybody's more than welcome to reach out. And if I don't have the answer, of course, I I'll I'll send anybody in the right direction. Um, but yeah, I'm excited to be now full-time in the industry, and uh I thank you for having us on to talk more about how students and and young younger uh the younger generation can get involved.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, likewise, I mean, if you're looking for more information about the railroad engineering program at Penn State, you can just Google Penn State RTE, you'll find it. Um, and I'm on the website there. But then uh beyond that, I just want to leave people with the arema.org website. And if anyone's interested in starting a student chapter, a great place to go is the students tab, and it shows you how to become a student member, but then also student chapters, and it's got all the information on here of uh establishing a student chapter, sample charter, sample bylaws, everything you need is right there. So it's uh an amazing resource that um I definitely would recommend to any anybody interested.
SPEAKER_03Perfect. All right, well, thank you both, and uh I hope to see you both in person in about 12 months from now, I guess, in uh in Indianapolis. All right, guys, take care.
SPEAKER_05We'll see you there. Take care.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chat. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
