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A blog that looks behind the scenes at how we bring our mission to life, every day

Kaitlyn Buscone ‹ We are EF

For those of us living in cities, public transportation is something we deal with regularly. This is particularly true for students who rely on public transit to get to and from school every day. The impact that transportation has on society made choosing the topic for the sixth annual <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EFGlocal/">EF Glocal Challenge</a> at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School (CRLS) easy.
<a href="https://www.ef.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EF Education First</a> created the EF Glocal Challenge in 2012 in partnership with CRLS and the City of Cambridge to inspire students to develop solutions to the city’s biggest challenges. Glocal (global + local) is a first-of-its-kind public-private collaboration focused on improving students STEM skills while also positively impacting the local community. In years past, students covered topics like food sustainability and energy conservation, and in November 2017, they were challenged to improve transportation in Cambridge by 2020.
Over two months of competition, nearly 100 students worked in 20 teams to develop solutions to transportation challenges they see in their community every day. They attended workshops and were coached and mentored by local academics, practitioners and entrepreneurs, culminating with a student exhibition at EF’s North American headquarters on Wednesday, January 17th. A panel of judges then announced the five finalists, who took part in a pitch-off in front of a large audience of EF staff and local community members. The excitement in the room was palpable!
All five finalists won internships with the City of Cambridge as well as seed money to get their projects off the ground. Grand prize winners Live Bus and Transportation Transformers also received scholarships to attend the EF Global Leadership Summit in Berlin this July, which will focus on the future of technology.
Here are the innovative transportation ideas from the top five finalists:
<ul>
<li>Live Bus plans to make it easier and more convenient to take transit by mounting real-time transit displays in local business windows facing bus stops. The displays will provide real time updates and information on when the bus will arrive and fare information. These would be especially beneficial to members of the community that do not have access to smartphones.</li>
<li>Transportation Transformers aims to dramatically increase bike usage among students at CRLS by partnering with the City to promote and offer discounted Hubway memberships for students, a healthier and more environmentally friendly option than public transportation. The seed money will go towards offering bike safety seminars and helmets to students who will be biking more frequently.</li>
<li>Cam Tran will use its seed money to create an app that will populate user data and produce the safest bike routes around Cambridge. Their hope is that this will encourage more people to bike, since it will help people biking to navigate the roads safely and seamlessly.</li>
<li>Wheeled Empowerment plans to make the Red Line more accessible to people with disabilities. They propose placing convertible seating that will fold up and provide locking mechanisms to hold wheelchairs in place when necessary. The seats will be made of recyclable plastic and will follow models in other cities that people can use independently.</li>
<li>Team TV would like to create better transportation visuals within bus stop. The issue that they are tackling is that people either do not have access to smartphones that can update them on the bus routes or they are confused by the information currently provided at the stops. This new system would be an interactive touch screen that would show where on the route the bus is in real time, as well as a map of the entire route and the routes of the busses that also go through that stop.</li>
</ul>
We would like to thank the esteemed panel of judges, including Scott Bosworth, Chief Strategy Officer, MassDOT; Lisa Peterson, Deputy City Manager, City of Cambridge; Stephanie Pollack, Secretary and CEO, MassDOT; Dr. Stephen M. Popkin, Deputy Director for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation/Volpe Center; Roy Russell, Founding Chief Technology Officer, Zipcar; Angie Uyham, Design Lab Director, Cambridge Public Schools; and Kate Berseth, Executive Vice President, EF Education First. A number of other organizations including the MBTA, MIT, CIC, Hult International Business School, Zipcar, Hubway, Zagster, the City of Cambridge, and MassDOT, all played a role in making the Glocal Challenge a success again this year.

This year, EF's Glocal Challenge asked students at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School: how do you improve local transportation in Cambridge by 2020?

Tackling public transportation challenges at EF’s Glocal Challenge - We are EF

Tackling public transportation challenges at EF’s Glocal Challenge ‹ We are EF

Tackling public transportation challenges at EF’s Glocal Challenge

Tackling public transportation challenges at efs glocal challenge

Each morning as <a href="https://www.ef.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EF Education First</a> employees are arriving to work in Boston, the construction site adjacent to the office is already buzzing with activity. The trucks that load in and out all morning, the cranes that carry steel beams up and down, and the structure that grows taller each day are all exciting signs of a building project in progress.
Over the past three months, EF employees have watched as <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2017/10/02/ef-wellness-space-cambridge/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a former Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) maintenance facility has transformed</a> into a framed, 12-story, 300,000 square-foot structure. The completed building will be EF’s newest addition to the North Point area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will feature student housing, a fitness center, and a 30-foot rock-climbing wall. But who are the workers responsible for bringing this building closer to completion on a daily basis?
In recognition of EF’s “Topping Off”—a construction ceremony that celebrates placing the final steel beam on a building—we chatted with Rico Autori, Superintendent, and Mike Loring, Project Manager, of Skanska USA to find out what a day at work looks like for them and why they love working with EF.
What does a typical day on the job like? 
Mike: A typical day starts with our Skanska Team leading “stretch and flex”, where we participate with the tradesmen and tradeswomen in stretching our muscles and gearing up for the work ahead. Most mornings our office team will perform typical daily tasks in a very interactive trailer environment, while on any given day our extended team attends multiple project meetings with EF, our subcontractors, designers, etc. The various team meetings are what really bring the project to life when people of various roles on the project work together towards a common goal. Afternoons are usually a lot of catching up with the team and field staff to help assist with any troubleshooting onsite. Day to day, hour to hour, there are a lot of moving parts so communication and learning from one another is incredibly important. We’re a close-knit group that tries to keep it light and easy, while at the same time stressing the importance of what we’re doing.
Rico: It’s busy! It’s very hectic. Immediately after 7AM the phones start to ring with the guys who want to know where to go and what to do that particular day. It’s very fluid and dynamic, everything changes constantly. You roll with the punches and you keep everyone moving forward toward the end goal. I really enjoy the job and we have a really good group of people. There’s a good harmony out there, which we try to foster, and we like to keep everyone happy. I love being out there with my feet on the ground.
<img alt="Iron Workers Local 7 top off EF Education First building" class="alignnone wp-image-12705 size-full" height="371" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Blog_BodyImage_ToppingOff.jpg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Blog_BodyImage_ToppingOff.jpg 568w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Blog_BodyImage_ToppingOff-300x196.jpg 300w" width="568">
What is something about your job that might surprise people? 
Mike: I think people would be surprised to learn how much advance planning a project like this takes. We’d been planning this project for several years before we even put a shovel in the ground. So many people on design teams, planning boards, and staff behind the scenes work together to bring this project from a dream to a reality. The unique part is that most of these people won’t even build the building, but they’ll work together longer than it will take for the project to be physically built onsite.
Rico: I think it would surprise people that we truly live minute-to-minute. We have hourly deadlines, daily deadlines, weekly deadlines, monthly deadlines, etc. in order to move the project forward. Every group is relying on one another to hit their goals and keep things moving.
What’s the best part of your job? 
Mike: The best part of this job is the people I get to work with. In this job and industry as a whole, it’s such a people-focused business. So much of what we do is interacting with others and it’s the most fun when great teams like this one are put together.
Rico: The people I work with, hands down. I love the people in the trailer, I love working with the people from EF, the foremen are great, the guys are fun. We have a lot of laughs.
What do you enjoy the most about working on an EF property? 
Mike: What I enjoy most is how EF approaches problems. We’ve had plenty of hills to climb to date, but watching the approach of the EF team, it’s always “we can do this, there’s a solution, we just have to figure it out” and it’s infectious to everyone else on the project. It’s a rare quality these days and makes for a great team dynamic!
Rico: Honestly, there are really no other clients out there like EF. The EF team is awesome to work with. You never know what you’re going to get with a client but EF always makes the job easy, fun, and exciting. Being here is like coming home, it’s a very nice place to work.
Why is this topping off such a significant milestone? 
Rico: The topping off represents a really special moment in time for the crew because it marks the completion of a project. The placement of the final beam marks the last piece in the “shell” of the building. It is a celebration of their hard work and comradery. This project in particular was unusual, there were two cranes, a lot of steel, and a lot of moving parts, so to be able to celebrate a job well done is a really great and exciting moment for all of us.

Each morning as EF Education First employees are arriving to work in Boston, the construction site adjacent to the office is already buzzing with activity.

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Kaitlyn Buscone

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