Inspiring the Next Generation of Structural Engineers

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A student presses down on a model structure, watches it deform, and pauses. The first solution did not work—but instead of giving up, the student leans closer, asks why, and begins again. In that small burst of curiosity is the heart of structural engineering: observing behavior, learning from a result, and imagining a better design.

The NCSEA Foundation Future Builders Program was created to equip Structural Engineers Associations (SEAs) with a complete, ready-to-use student outreach program. Through hands-on activities, age-appropriate educational content, and direct interaction with structural engineers, the national program introduces students to the forces, materials, decisions, and problem-solving that shape the built environment. Prepared materials, facilitator guides, and training resources allow SEA volunteers to focus on engaging students instead of recreating a classroom program for each outreach event.

The objective is larger than a single classroom visit. With 13 different activities spanning K-12 grade levels, NCSEA Foundation Future Builders can return to a school or community with new challenges that deepen students’ understanding of structural engineering over time.

Central to the NCSEA Foundation Future Builders Program are the educational, activity-based toolkits. Each contains the materials, educational content, and facilitator guidance needed to lead students through building, testing, and reflection. The activities align with the Next Generation Science Standards and translate concepts from the engineering licensure pathway into experiences K-12 students can understand.

The activities are organized around five domains: “Forces and Loads” introduces gravity, wind, earthquakes, and the vertical and lateral forces engineers calculate; “Materials and Properties” connects concrete, steel, and timber to concepts such as ductility and brittleness; “Understanding Structures” reveals the beams, columns, and foundations that form a building’s skeleton; “Design and Problem Solving” translates structural analysis into measurement, geometry, data, and evidence; and “Engineering and Public Safety” connects exams and building codes to the licensed engineer’s responsibility to protect people. In that context, an engineer’s stamp is not simply paperwork; it is a promise of safety to the community.

Together, the domains create an age-appropriate pathway through the profession. A student who first explores pushes and pulls in elementary school can later investigate load paths, material behavior, structural systems, analysis, codes, and public safety.

In the activity, students work in small groups to plan, build, test, and improve a structure. Each student has a role, such as proposing an idea, assembling components, recording observations, or helping the group decide what to change. When a structure bends, tips, or fails, students exchange ideas and try again. The experience develops technical curiosity and creativity alongside teamwork, communication, and shared decision-making—the collaborative skills structural engineers use in practice.

The NCSEA Foundation Future Builders Program has moved beyond the concept stage. Pilot activities have engaged more than 180 students through classroom and community-based demonstrations, with participation spanning elementary through high school grade levels. Early pilots included programs supported by SEAs in New York, Northern California, Illinois, St. Louis, and the Metropolitan Washington, as well as collaboration with education-focused organizations such as the Salvadori Center.

The pilots helped the Foundation answer the practical questions that determine whether an outreach idea can become a sustainable national program: Are the instructions clear to volunteers? Do the materials hold up under classroom use? Is each challenge appropriate for its grade level? Can educators connect it to their learning objectives? Most importantly, do students leave knowing what structural engineers do and believing they could one day do it too?

The answers are shaping facilitator guides, material lists, packaging, training videos, and grade-level organization before national distribution. The pilots also reinforced that the engineer in the room matters. A practicing engineer can relate the activity to the profession by explaining a design decision, describing a project, or sharing how an unexpected result led to a better solution.

One of the most meaningful signs the Future Builder’s Program was making an impact did not come from a formal survey. It came in a text message from Brody’s mother after he participated in a pilot activity. Brody had gone home excited, continued talking about what he had learned, and told his family that he wanted to become a structural engineer. For the team developing the program, that message captured exactly why this work matters. A classroom activity had become a conversation at home—and a profession that had been invisible to one student had suddenly become a future he could picture for himself.

The program was developed as a national resource to strengthen the student outreach SEAs already lead in their communities and remove the barriers that can limit those efforts. By supplying an off-the-shelf program with prepared activities, packaged materials, facilitator training, and logistical support, NCSEA Foundation Future Builders allows SEA volunteers to facilitate meaningful experiences without rebuilding the program each time they enter a classroom. Local SEAs retain the relationships and knowledge needed to serve their own communities; the Foundation provides the shared framework and resources.

Beginning with the planned national rollout in January 2027, SEAs will be able to request the program and select the grade-level toolkit that best fits each outreach effort. The SEA will identify a participating school or community organization and coordinate local structural engineers to facilitate the activity. The toolkits, digital facilitator, educational resources, and training videos, will help volunteers prepare before arriving on site. Feedback from volunteers and educators will inform future improvements.

The rollout is already becoming tangible. In September 2026, MiTek employees will gather for a volunteer day to assemble and pack up to 500 toolkits for the January launch. MiTek will also support storage and fulfillment, helping move materials from a national inventory into the hands of SEA volunteers across the country.

Success will be measured not only by how many kits are shipped, but by the quality of the experiences they create in local communities.

The profession routinely discusses workforce development, public understanding, and the need to attract students with a wider range of backgrounds and experiences. NCSEA Foundation Future Builders gives engineers and firms a direct way to advance all three.

Engineers do not need to become full-time educators to make a meaningful impact. For a day, they become facilitators and mentors—guiding students through structural engineering concepts, asking thoughtful questions, encouraging iteration, and helping small groups develop and test their designs. By connecting a student-built model to the structural engineer’s responsibility to protect the public, they can change how a young person sees the built world and the role they might one day play in shaping it.

Firms can support employee volunteer time, sponsor the program, connect the Foundation and SEAs to community partners, and provide in-kind support. SEAs can identify local champions, coordinate facilitators, and build lasting relationships with educators. Practitioners can strengthen the program by sharing the explanations, project stories, and real-world examples that resonate most with students.

Every structural engineer once encountered a person, problem, class, or structure that made the profession feel tangible. NCSEA Foundation Future Builders is designed to create that moment earlier—and more consistently—for students across the country. When students test a structure, learn from an unexpected result, and improve their design, they begin to see the built world differently. Brody’s excitement is one story, but it represents the possibility at the heart of the program: a moment of curiosity becoming an understanding of the profession and, for some students, the first step toward joining it. ■

About the Author

Jillian C. Kilker serves as Chief Development Officer of the NCSEA Foundation, where she leads fundraising, strategic partnerships, and programs that advance education, innovation, advocacy, and the structural engineering profession. She also supports NCSEA initiatives focused on emerging technology, professional development, and expanding the profession’s impact within local communities.