AVTA Promotes Public Transportation Summit for Students

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) is promoting an exciting opportunity for local high school students to learn more about careers in public transportation.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is currently seeking a diverse group of 50 students from across the nation to participate in the 2015 APTA Youth Summit to Advance Education and Promote Careers in Public Transportation. The summit will be held in Washington, D.C. on June 28 through July 2. Students selected by APTA to attend the five-day event will explore the educational and environmental benefits of public transportation. The summit will also focus on how communities as a whole can prosper with increased services, and on the role local and federal policies play in public transit.

Educational and career opportunities in the industry will also be discussed to further expose students to future opportunities.

“The growing demand for public transportation in the United States is creating more jobs than ever before,” said AVTA Executive Director Julie Austin. “We encourage the young people of our community to discover the wide range of exciting career paths within the transit industry.”

The all-expenses-paid opportunity to join peers and experience five days in Washington, D.C., is open to any student who will be a high school junior or senior in the fall of 2015. Interested students must submit an application to attend the APTA Youth Summit no later than Feb. 13. 

“This is a tremendous opportunity for 50 young people and our board is optimistic one of those youngsters will be selected from the Antelope Valley,” stated Board Chairman Norm Hickling. “Careers in transportation are dynamic and sometimes all it takes is exposing a student to new ideas to set their career path in motion.”