Building the Future: Students Get Hands-On Look at Tollway Careers
A field trip to the Illinois Tollway is anything but ordinary.
For nearly 100 Chicago-area high school students this week, it meant stepping beyond the classroom and into a world of careers they may have never considered.
Five participating schools included Chicago Vocational Career Academy, Curie Metro High School, Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, Prosser Career Academy and Maine East High School.
From the moment they arrived, this wasn’t about sitting and listening – it was about hands-on access and one-on-one conversations.
Guided by skilled tradesmen and engineers, students explored Tollway maintenance facilities in Bensenville and Alsip – and some experienced active constructions sites – all diving into the real work and skills behind keeping roads safe and traffic moving.
The biggest takeaway? Discovery.
“Experiences like this are about sparking curiosity,” said Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse. “We want students to see that there’s a place for them here – whether they’re interested in building, fixing, designing or working with technology – and how what they’re learning today can lead to the careers they pursue tomorrow.”
Inside the Tollway maintenance facilities with skilled mechanics and equipment operator laborers, students rotated through hands-on stations that brought transportation careers to life. They checked tire pressure on fleet vehicles, learned how crews tackle snow and ice, watched equipment demonstrations and got up close with emerging tools like drones and remote-controlled lawn mowers.
Students also had access to engineers. Some stepped onto an active construction site on the I-490 Tollway Project, watching a new roadway take shape and hearing directly from the engineering professionals making it happen. While other students explored construction technology and materials testing, learning how infrastructure is built, maintained and improved from the ground up.
Throughout the day, Tollway staff shared their own career journeys, showing how a wide range of roles – from engineering and maintenance to IT, finance and operations – come together to keep the system running.
Curiosity sparked. Possibilities expanded. Futures set in motion.