WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – 5th graders at Tildenville Elementary School got a real good treat on Friday.
As part of National Engineers Week, Florida's Turnpike engineers taught students how to build roads from the bottom up using "Chocolate Asphalt."
" I just knew that it’s used for road and this is kinda cool," 10-year-old Javier Rivera said.
Thanks @ezzycastro @news6wkmg for coming to Florida's Turnpike #EWeek2020 Chocolate Asphalt event at Tildenville Elementary School! 5th graders learned how to build their own roads with Turnpike Engineers, and a tasty treat! https://t.co/dPoprtXqCm @DiscoverEorg pic.twitter.com/eLiSJaxSeu
— Florida's Turnpike (@FloridaTurnpike) February 21, 2020
Students used ingredients like chocolate, walnuts, oats, coconut, and sugar to build their road. The project is a way to raise awareness about STEM-related careers.
Rivera said he loved doing this project because wants to be a computer engineer when he grows up.
"This is something we’ve done before in our construction career days with the department and we wanted to share it with younger kids and it’s worked beautifully," Josiah Banet explained.
Banet is Florida’s Turnpike Program Director. He said doing a hands-on project like “Chocolate Asphalt” is a way to inspire young students.
"We love being engineers and making the world a better place so if we have the next generation coming up to do the same, that would be fantastic," Banet said.
At the end of the day, students walked out with an edible treat and a lesson on what the future has to offer.