Rankin Elementary: STEM in the City

Students at Greensboro’s Rankin Elementary summer STEM in the City program enjoyed an “electrifying” field trip, riding a new all-electric bus and touring Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA) facilities at the historic downtown depot and operations headquarters.

As part a Guilford County Schools’ grant-funded program to engage students of color in Science-Technology-Engineering-Math (STEM), the children and their teachers boarded the gleaming bus for the J. Douglas Galyon Depot for an extensive tour of the historic facility.

GTA guide Kevin Elwood provided insight into the facility’s renovation to accommodate buses, as well as Amtrak rail service. Standing near the former “colored only” waiting area, GTA guide Elwood discussed how people of color were segregated in the facility, an important depot in the rail network of then Southern Railway.

From the depot, the students traveled to GTA’s massive Administrative/Operations headquarters on Meadowview Road. Again, Kevin Elwood guided the students through the transportation offices where they were able to watch how the buses are tracked via computers at the headquarters. Students also received a tour of the service area for the all-electric bus fleet.

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