This article was originally published on the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) LinkedIn page.
“A breath of fresh air.” Those were my exact words to NOYS Executive Director Jacob Smith when we caught up last week to reflect on NYTECx2024. Jacob had emphasized the desire to create a youthful space and I think everyone attending, regardless of age, can agree that there was excitement and energy in the air. This energy came in with the walking tours that were wrapping up, it stirred with the eagerness of the conference to come, and it certainly was building as more and more people with a shared passion for safety and transportation began to gather.
I’m Mara Benitez, an Engineer I at Toole Design and the appointed Denver office’s “resident Gen Z’er” (coined after I started sending a Gen Z Fact of the Week). It was just over two years ago I moved halfway across the country from my home state of Michigan and started my first post-grad job at Toole Design. My road to Toole Design was windy and unexpected, as some of the best journeys are. As a senior civil engineering college student, I was in the midst of questioning if the engineering field was even something I wanted to pursue. Then I found Toole Design, a breath of fresh air, and I subsequently found answers to so many questions I was asking myself — What does it look like for engineering to be centered around people? Can I use my degree to work directly with and for communities? Like many of my fellow Gen Z friends and classmates, I wanted to join a mission-based company that took a committed stance on social and climate issues.
These past two years with Toole Design have proved to me the things I was seeking as a senior in college can and do exist. As a company, we strive “to support innovative streets and dynamic communities where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy walking, biking, and access to transit.” Our core values of expertise, social justice, collaboration, and stewardship are foundational in everything we do.
As an engineer, I experience this as I work on projects that are adding safer and more comfortable bike lanes to the neighborhoods I live and move in. I work with various cities around the country helping to develop new standard details that will guide future projects and add to best practices for active transportation design. As a junior staff member, I have received mentorship from experts in the industry as I grow into my career.
My experience as an engineer at Toole Design has completely changed the way I think about engineering. I was scared of committing to engineering when I thought it was impersonal, disconnected, and hung up on outdated status quo and tradition. My hindsight only stretches two years, but I can already see how narrow of a view I had.
My experience as an engineer at Toole Design has completely changed the way I think about engineering.
This profession is changing with each graduating class and new hire that enters the workforce. When they bring their new perspectives and personalities, they bring with them a breath of fresh air. The greater transportation industry is experiencing the same thing. Toole Design is reshaping how we think about the transportation profession by shifting from the conventional approach of engineering, education, and enforcement to prioritizing ethics, equity, and empathy (the New E’s of Transportation).
These are people who are not settling for the status quo when it is no longer serving our communities. We are bold enough to have conversations that shift the direction of projects and designs to create better spaces for ourselves and our neighbors. We are working to change the language we use to prioritize humans and emphasize safety. We are relentless and passionate in our pursuit of giving everyone the access and power of the freedom to move.
NYTECx2024 was a reminder of the change that is happening and the support for future changes to come in the transportation industry. As we get further from NYTECx2024, my call to all of us is to continue asking ourselves how to bring new perspectives and fresh air into this space. Lean into the questions. Be bold enough to ask them. Gather with and learn from passionate people.
