Month: April 2022

Students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, race into STEM careers!

“Everything you do here, you get points,” said Anthony Martin, founder and director of the Urban Youth Racing School (UYRS). “Students get points for showing up for class. They get points for their work, points for behavior, all that stuff,” Martin explained. “The most points they can get, though, are for their school grades.”

Kiah Williams hoisted the biggest trophy and collected the best college scholarship. Meanwhile, her peers looked on with respect. “The Chevrolet points championship has become a very prestigious award,” Martin said. “Every year for the 23 years I’ve been doing it, when it comes down to it at the end, it’s always going to be determined by who has the best school grades.”

Williams didn’t possess the best driving skills in the unique program that benefits underserved students eager to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) — through the lens of motorsports. But she did parlay her opportunity into a career making a difference. She went on to be co-founder and director of SIRUM, a company that helps the under- and uninsured access the treatments they need.

“Kiah Williams co-founded a nonprofit that gets unused medications from all over the health care system, using technology to redistribute those medications to families with high drug costs,” Martin explained. “She was on the Forbes 30-Under-30 (Social Entrepreneur) list. The thing that I liked about her more than anything was the fact that she made being smart cool. And that’s what it’s about.”

Smart is cool >amp; STEM careers are too.

The Urban Youth Racing School has been a passion for Martin and his wife, Michelle, for the past 23 years. Their goal is to expose mostly disadvantaged urban youth to the exciting sport of auto racing. And the hope is that their experience with UYRS leads to STEM careers.

The first five weeks involve classroom experiences around the design, construction and testing of CO2 dragsters — including data analysis from Pitsco Education wind tunnels that measure forces of drag and lift on the students’ dragsters and other model cars they create. Based on wind tunnel data, students modify the design and features of their cars to improve performance. Over the second five weeks, student teams go head-to-head on the go-kart track to apply what they learned in the classroom.

“We talk about physics and STEM, showing them how they can then apply that education to their everyday lives,” said UYRS instructor Reggie Showers. “The Pitsco resources have been tremendously beneficial for our program.”

Martin has known from the program’s inception that relevance in education — coaxing students to understand why they are in school — is essential to success, particularly in core math and science courses. He never misses an opportunity to make this point with students.

Opportunities

During the past 23 years, the UYRS has served more than 7,700 students ranging in age from eight to 18. Set up as an enrichment opportunity to support what students learn in their classrooms across the metro area, the program was hatched by Martin with significant support from Ed Rensi, former McDonald’s CEO.

“He owned a team in the ARCA racing series,” Martin explained of Rensi. “And he won the ARCA series championship. So I presented to him my idea of doing this racing school. He absolutely loved it. So, he was a guy who funded me to start the racing school.”

A marketing and public relations professional by trade, Martin has a way of creating opportunities and then taking full advantage of them. That’s the same skill he seeks to instill in students. Consider Jason Simmons, a star pupil, who attended the UYRS from 1999–2005. Now NASCAR’s senior manager for international operations and strategy, Simmons’ passion for racing was fueled during his six years at the UYRS. His time at UYRS led to a spot in NASCAR’s Diversity Internship Program.

If you see it, you can be it.

“My dream was to be a racecar driver in NASCAR. I was drawn into the racing and the uniqueness of it,” said Simmons. “The school definitely had a huge impact. It’s because of the relationships I made when at the school that I got where I am today. You’ve got to meet people, net.work, make relationships.”

Now he’s the one UYRS students want to network with when he returns to the Philadelphia area for events at Pocono Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway.

“Jason came to realize that he had to have a job, and now he’s making a living in the corporate world,” said Showers. “He took a lot of the skills he learned on the track into his personal life. Whenever he’s in town, he comes by. Kids see somebody who went through the program. They see that some of these graduates are engineers, working within motorsports, and they say ‘Hey, that could be me.’”

Showers wants to expand students’ horizons and open their eyes to the possibilities outside of their everyday environments. “Children imitate what’s in their atmosphere,” he said. “A lot of these kids have exceptional talent. They just don’t know they have these talents because they haven’t had the opportunities.”

A current student in the program, Tanaya, said she looks forward to her Saturdays at the UYRS because, “I don’t have to read a book” to do it. And she’s eager to help spread the word to her friends. “I feel like, once I’m done with this program, I can go out and I can tell other people about it and how it works.”

Career aspirations

Many UYRS graduates have discovered a love for automotive, aerospace, and even military engineering and technical positions. They often return to visit with and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. Frequent guest instructors and speakers include professional racecar drivers, naval engineers, and engineers and technicians with General Motors, Boeing, and Haas, among others.

“You’d be surprised; these teenagers don’t know what’s out there,” Showers said. “They come in not knowing the difference between Philips and flat.head screwdrivers. We teach them all the basics. And now, they have access to two wind tunnels — a FLO Visualization Tunnel and the X-Stream Wind Tunnel — that provide usable quantitative data so they can compare how efficient or inefficient their dragster is.”

Students across the country discover their career interests in after-school, summer, or weekend programs. But these experiences are few and far between in the urban core. “Traditionally, our students have been underserved in those areas,” Showers said.

Urban youth achieve great things.

Everyone involved with the UYRS serves as an example of what students in urban communities can achieve when they apply themselves — and when they can participate in high-quality career and technical education. They all model a winning approach that incorporates determination and initiative as much as subject knowledge and understanding. The UYRS in Philadelphia serves as a model that can be replicated in similar communities. In fact, Simmons said, the auto racing community recognizes an untapped potential among urban students.

“NASCAR, right now, views the Urban Youth Racing School as a vessel to the ur.ban community,” Simmons said. “Speaking personally, I’d love to see 20 or 30 more Urban Youth Racing Schools open. A lot of students in the urban community are looking around for things they can be ex.posed to. A lot of them have what it takes to get to the next level. But it’s possible only if they have opportunities to do so.”

Martin talks about his dream of expanding the program into other market.places, and it’s the thirst for knowledge he sees when students walk through his doors that drives him. Though he’s not a classroom teacher, his desire to teach and empower children to build a better future for themselves is second to none. “Seeing them be successful, man, there’s nothing greater in the world.”

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Tom Farmer has been a journalist for more than 34 years, the past 25 of which exclusively in education.

An educated woman will educate her children, her community, her society and her nation.

“Overall, according to McKinsey, centering women in recovery efforts would grow global gross domestic product by an estimated $13 trillion, or 16%, by 2030. Because when women thrive, so do their families and communities.”

CTE can support Black women reentering the workforce.

High-quality CTE programs of study bolster job readiness skills, creating a bridge between poverty and the middle class. CTE prepares learners for careers in lucrative STEM occupations. But Black women are less likely to pursue STEM CTE programs, which only further perpetuates the lack of representation in these fields. Consider how the COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique opportunity. To realize equitable educational for Black girls and women in CTE, we must remove barriers by:

• Effecting policy changes
• Creating more inclusive academic environments
• Providing professional development for faculty on culturally responsive teaching
• Developing partnerships with industry professionals.

eliminate biases from both sides. Further, student-centered learning spaces that incorporate culturally responsive teaching (CRT) will elevate students’ sense of belonging.

Create flexible learning opportunities.

Flexible learning opportunities — offered in remote or hybrid environments — can help meet the needs of older adolescent learners, especially those who may be single mothers. Transportation services and stipends can increase persistence and completion rates. Further, consider diverse methods of content delivery to address specific needs or ability levels. For example: Introduce technology as needed for specific job duties to reduce learning barriers.

Align programs of study with industry needs.

STEM and CTE programs should strive to meet identified industry needs, now and in the future, to support a comprehensive workforce education initiative. Sitewide assessments must ensure appropriate forward momentum is maintained. When this work occurs, with appropriate program scaffolding, learners graduate ready to enter the workforce.

Through partnerships with local businesses, educators can provide learners with meaningful work experience. Northland Workforce Training Center of New York offers earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship programs in mechanical engineering technology, an excellent model for programs that work for women wanting to enter or reenter the workforce.

Involve Black girls >amp; women as co-researchers in the planning process.

Empower students’ voices in their learning communities; ask them what’s important and how or if they perceive curriculum to be effective. It builds rapport with learners. Black girls’ perceptions of their lived experiences — traversing an obstacle course toward equity in education — must be revealed. Our own unconscious biases must be examined, and discriminatory policies and gatekeeping procedures must be reconstructed. Include Black girls and women in these conversations.

Assemble student success teams to address the systemic inequities faced by Black girls. Stakeholders meet regularly to develop strategies for success. In these spaces, seek input from learners regarding how to engage in the content. Black girls have stories to tell, about their lives, about their communities and their experiences of being Black and female in educational spaces. Listening to their stories from their perspectives can be transformational for the girls involved and the educators. It is through their stories that systems of oppression can be revealed and deconstructed. Use the knowledge you gain to inform curriculum development that encourages their participation.

Track student progress and intervene.

It is essential to track student progress at regular intervals and conduct interventions as necessary. The Freshman OnTrack program, implemented more than a decade ago in Chicago Public Schools, increased graduation rates from 57% to 76% percent for Black and Latinx male students between 2006–2018. Approximately 66% of students in the program enrolled in two- and four-year programs immediately after graduation.

Similar rigorous support programs for Black girls will yield positive achievement outcomes. Educators, raise the bar for your Black female students through growth mindset practices, remind.ing them that the harder they work the more they can achieve. Girls Garage, an organization supported by the Bill >amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, offers a program for girls ages nine through 17 to develop their voices and technical skills in programs related to welding, carpentry, architecture and screen printing. Learners are not asked to be fearless but to achieve in spite of the fear. Fear less. The growth mindset will propel Black girls into competitive postsecondary STEM CTE programs and employment, helping themselves and their communities succeed.

Conclusion

Finally, the most valuable tool for supporting Black girls is through recognition and respect for their psychosocial identities. Black girls are called upon by society to be resilient in the face of systemic gendered racism and to ignore the historical pain and sadness that informs their identity. But, within counterspaces, Black girls and women use storytelling to release negative feelings. Counterspaces can equip Black girls with a strong sense of self as they navigate their social universes.

Include opportunities to interact with Black female professionals from a wide variety of STEM CTE occupations. Professionals sharing their experiences can redefine strength and dispel sadness. Curriculum attributes should include class discussions that showcase the contributions of Black women to various fields of STEM and CTE. Another positive, self-efficacy-building activity may include students sharing selected affirmations to counter the stereotypical narrative that Black women cannot be successful in STEM occupations.

Black female students’ participation in STEM CTE pathways is essential to economic growth. Providing early opportunities for Black girls will increase curiosity as well as self-efficacy. When given the opportunity, Black girls and women can be great innovators and creators of STEM knowledge beneficial to all members of society. CTE can build the bridge to success in STEM occupations for Black women.

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Monique Somma is a doctoral student in postsecondary CTE at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. With this degree, she will create equitable spaces for adolescent Black girls to pursue careers in STEM. Somma has taught secondary CTE and STEM/STEAM subjects for more than a decade in Las Vegas, Nevada, and abroad.

Learn more from Monique Somma when you read the full article, Black girls >amp; women can achieve success in STEM through CTE, in Techniques in April 2022.

On a Saturday morning last winter, I chatted with Sandra Adams, an instructional consultant and frequent Techniques contributor. We talked about my young children and her family, and we talked about what a great time she had at ACTE’s CareerTech VISION 2021. The purpose of our call was to discuss her article, for this April 2022 issue, about the power of possibility. Together we crafted a story for you about connection and collaboration. About how, to better serve all students, educators should seek to “learn from others.”

Adams wrote, “Career and technical educators have the power to help students see new possibilities for themselves.” But we can’t each individually do it alone. And when I say we, I include myself and my colleagues at ACTE. Career and technical education (CTE) students “need us to acknowledge — and disrupt — the very real challenges they face to success.” We must engage in this work together.

ACTE empowers educators to deliver high-quality CTE programs that ensure all students are positioned for career success.

High-quality CTE programs can propel all students toward career success. This happens when educators prioritize the development of academic and employability skills, such as communication, reading comprehension, and emotional intelligence. Educators must also ensure their programs are relevant, both to engage students and to fulfill workforce demands. To meet these goals, we must consider how the language we use conveys meaning.

In Techniques in February 2022, Anuli I. Phillips wrote about the barriers Black female students face in CTE. Historical perceptions that “Black people were incapable of learning academic subjects and thus should be outfitted with practical skills” have resulted in long-lasting misconceptions “about what role CTE plays in the success of Black students.”

Monique Somma, in a companion article to Phillips’, wrote to provide more guidance on the big question we’re all asking: How do we solve this? “The most valuable approach to connect and engage underrepresented students in CTE is through recognition and respect for their psychosocial identities,” she said. It all comes back to language.

How we talk to students and how we talk about students matters.

To that end, ACTE staff developed an inclusive language resource to guide our own work. And we hope it may guide yours as well. Because when we choose language that celebrates our differences, we can build a richer, stronger workforce in CTE.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.acteonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Inclusive-Language-Guide_-Techniques-ACTE.pdf” title=”Inclusive Language Guide_ Techniques ACTE”]

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Lia Milgram is managing editor of Techniques.

Read Techniques in April 2022. Current board President Brian Law wrote:

As a teacher, school counselor, administrator, and adjunct postsecondary instructor ending my 28th year of service, the notion of diversity has always existed, but its meaning has changed as I learned to notice and embrace differences. Career and technical education (CTE) is strongest when we serve all students equitably, and when we commit to access and inclusion in our programs.

The diversity issue

Memories of childhood include the game “I spy…” Players looked for things that were recognizable but not obvious to the competitor. I remember trying to choose the most unique item, different in color, form and size from all the others.

In February 2022, my administrative assistant aided in the proclamation to recognize CTE Month with the mayor of our city — who happens to be a full-time CTE educator. And she set a goal to choose the most diverse selection of participants. The students came from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Some diversity you would recognize and some you would not but she identified a group of students who truly represented the diversity of our student population. I hope you will find this issue helpful in strengthening your current meaning and embrace of diversity.

Read Techniques: April 2022.

In this issue, you will find articles to help you make diverse and valuable connections in CTE. Writers offer strategies to recruit diverse students in high-wage, high-demand CTE fields of study. Additional resources focused on developing a richer workforce through inclusive communication will help ACTE members create more effective outreach to diverse populations. In addition, we recognize our award winners. And readers will enjoy an opportunity to get to know ACTE’s future board of directors presidents. I look forward to working with these CTE professionals in the next year.

Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy wrote, “Diversity is having a seat at the table. Inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice heard.” Take time to celebrate the diversity of your students and faculty, and let their voices be heard. Thank you for all you do to promote CTE and for the many students you serve. Together, we make CTE stronger and more beautiful!

Read Techniques.