Andres, Howard Reflect On First Year Of WWTW 

A little over a year ago, We Work The Waterways (WWTW), an educational outreach program of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals Inc. (IRPT), didn’t even exist. Now, with 2024 in the books, Errin Howard, who directs We Work The Waterways, and Aimee Andres, executive director of IRPT, are both amazed at the collective support that made 2024 a success for WWTW and eager to see continued growth in the year to come.

Howard, who previously led RiverWorks Discovery’s Who Works The Rivers educational program, left that post toward the end of 2023 and joined IRPT to launch a new outreach effort. Her first day with IRPT was December 18, 2023.

“We didn’t even have a name or anything at that point,” Howard said.

In those first few weeks, Howard worked hard communicating the move to partners and developing the mission and vision of the new program. IRPT’s board of directors met in mid-January and voted to make We Work The Waterways an official program of IRPT.

Within days, Howard and her army of WWTW supporters hosted the organization’s first two “industry interaction days,” the first in partnership with schools in Zachary, La., and the second with the East Baton Rouge (La.) School System. Between the spring and fall semesters of 2024, WWTW held close to 20 industry interaction days, which seek to introduce high school students to career possibilities in the maritime industry and to build lasting connections between maritime industry leaders and educators.

“We’ve had more than ever before,” Howard said.

WWTW took part in 43 events in 2024, Howard said, with 12 already on the calendar for spring 2025. The organization recorded more than 150 corporate supporters in its first year, along with close to 80 individual givers. In the closing minutes of 2024, WWTW surpassed 10,000 followers on Facebook.

Besides just increasing events, We Work The Waterways also extended its reach into both brown water and blue water areas, thanks to the diversity of IRPT membership. In September 2024, We Work The Waterways held an industry interaction day in Pascagoula, Miss., which was a first. In the months ahead, WWTW leaders hope to hold events in Houston, at the intersection of the Houston Ship Channel and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and in Milwaukee, Wis., with an eye toward the Great Lakes region.

“I think that one’s going to be super exciting,” Andres said.

Expanding the reach of We Work The Waterways makes sense, Andres said, because of the broad reach of marine transportation, which includes brown water, blue ater and coastal waterways.

“It’s a system,” she said.

We Work The Waterways also plans to expand its programming, offering multiple touch points for students, industry leaders and educators in the process. Besides industry interaction days, WWTW will also sponsor more traditional career fairs starting this spring. Graduating seniors will gather first for soft skills training, then will meet face-to-face with companies from the maritime industry who are hiring.

“Through that, we want to be encouraging and supportive, building students up so they can go into an interview with confidence,” Andres said. “I think our ‘Voyage to Success’ is going to be a most exciting addition.”

Part of WWTW’s multiple touch points strategy will also involve working to develop an elementary and junior high school curriculum over the next year.

“It’s important to have multiple touch points throughout a student’s career, so we’re working to get that elementary program up and running,” Howard said.

Howard said her team, which now also includes Pam Maxwell, who serves as assistant program director, is also working to build WWTW’s social media presence (Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, in particular) and to develop marketing materials like posters for schools and a student-centric landing page on the We Work The Waterways website.

None of that, Howard said, would have been possible without the help and support of the We Work The Waterways advisory council, the members of IRPT and the organizational support that’s come from being part of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals.

“So many IRPT members have gotten involved with the program and helped it grow,” said Howard, who also thanked partners for supporting the program all year round and during a reception held September 25 during IRPT’s annual conference.

Andres echoed that appreciation.

“Both Errin and I share the same sentiment that we can’t thank IRPT membership and the board of directors enough,” Andres said. “I also think we share the same sentiment of offering our thanks to the advisory council.”