ORLANDO, Fla. — Central Florida high school students are getting hands-on experience in careers like construction, engineering and transportation at the Central Florida Construction Career Days today hosted by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Employers are also at the event to inspire career paths in these fields. 

What You Need To Know

  • Central Florida Construction Career Day are designed to inspire students to pursue 'building' careers

  • Students get hands-on experience in careers like construction, engineering and transportation

  • The number of jobs in construction is up by 200,000 nationwide, according to the National Association of Home Builders

  • Read more about FDOT's Construction Career Days event

Darnel Dastine, an FDOT inspector, attended the event as a student in 2018. He’s encouraging the younger generation to be open-minded about pursuing a career path outside of the 4-year college plan.

“It’s a pretty good industry to get into, especially if you don’t really know what you want to do going into college," he said. "You know, a lot of kids say, ‘Oh I don’t know what I want to do going into college.’ So they take some random classes, and they can’t afford it later — like, ‘Oh I wasted all my money’,” he said.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, careers in construction are up nationwide by 200,000 since November 2021.

“These industries are booming in the Central Florida area. The transportation and infrastructure projects that the governor and our district secretary and state secretary have worked on — there are so many projects going on right now there are opportunities for everyone,” FDOT’s Lauren Pearson said.

FDOT hosts four other Construction Career Days events across the state, including one in Tampa.