WCSD donation highlights Wood Rodgers ceremony

Wood Rodgers, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, celebrated its 20th anniversary by donating $20,000 to the Washoe County School District to encourage students in the K-12 system to pursue STEM education.

In partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Wood Rodgers will provide demonstration assemblies at schools in Washoe County in to the world of engineering.

The donation also provides scholarships for Washoe County high school students who are engaged in college-level engineering and math courses.

Part of the donation will also provide an estimated 4,000 students with the opportunity to watch the screening of “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” a film that aims to inspire K-12 students across the United States to pursue careers in engineering. To view a trailer, go to the website: www.dreambigfilm.com.

Wood Rodgers is tentatively planning to bus students up to the University of Nevada, Reno, to view the film during UNR’s Innovation Engineering Day festivities and the week after that in May.

“It’s a tangible way to give back to the community and inspire some young minds to join us in this career field,” said Andy Durling, a principal in the Reno office of Wood Rodgers.

Durling said it’s been difficult to nail down dates and times to be able to show the film on multiple days, but they’ve been working to make it happen.

“For our 20th anniversary we wanted to do something to give back to the community, and this opportunity presented itself,” Durling said. “We can give back to the community and we can foster education, and reach out to a lot of different students.”

Durling had come across the film that was commissioned by the ASCE, and help spearhead the movement to bring the film to the Truckee Meadows.

The presentation was made during Wood Rodgers grand opening ceremony of its new 20,000-square-foot Reno facility, on Thursday, Feb. 23. As a part of the celebration, Reno vice mayor Neoma Jardon declared Feb. 23 as “Wood Rodgers Day” on behalf of the City of Reno.

“The 20-20-20 theme was a perfect fit to celebrate our 20 years in business,” Steve Strickland vice president of civil engineering in the Reno office of Wood Rodgers, announced during the ceremony.

Founded in February 1997 and headquartered in Sacramento, Wood Rodgers opened a Reno location in 2003 when it merged with Mountain West Consulting of Reno. It has engineered several major northern Nevada projects, including Rancharrah, the Park Lane Mall redevelopment, and the Regional Transportation Commission’s 4th Street / Prater Way Corridor project.