WINTERVILLE — Hundreds of educators attending workforce development workshops across eastern North Carolina this summer aren’t looking to change career fields. They are learning to give students a clearer view of job opportunities in their own backyards.
More than 250 teachers from about two dozen counties are gathering on area community college campuses to take part in STEM East’s Industry in Schools Teacher Leadership Institute. The institute, which began last week with a session at Martin Community College, is designed to make connections between curriculum and careers as part of an effort to develop and retain local talent. Over the next six weeks, NC East Alliance is continuing a series workshops that focus on half a dozen types of industries found in the region.
“A lot of places we go to, people aren’t aware some of the other major employers in the region,” said Trey Goodson, director of economic development/chief information officer for the alliance. “The goal is to make sure teachers are aware of existing industries within their community or just outside of their communities and also where are those training opportunities to help guide their students to those job and career opportunities.
“Teachers influence so many kids on a year-to-year basis; they’re our front-line economic developers,” he said. “They help train and grow the workforce of the future, so we want to make sure they’re aware of what opportunities exist.”
NC East Alliance, an organization representing 29 eastern N.C. counties, has been involved in economic development for some three decades. It began STEM East in 2011 as part of a collaborative effort to have STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) opportunities in schools that align with career opportunities in the region.
In 2023, NC Alliance East was awarded a $15 million appropriation from the state legislature to continue to develop a new teacher training system. The STEM East Industry in Schools initiative began as a pilot project last summer with workshops centered on health care, aviation and smart agriculture. Those topics are being offered again at workshops this summer, along with information on additional fields including green energy, blue economy and biopharma manufacturing.
“We’re inventing this,” Goodson said of the initiative’s approach to workforce development. “It’s difficult at times because we’re not modeled after anything. We’ve worked with economic development consultants that work through all 50 states in the U.S., and they tell us this is a unique model that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country.”
Workshops are offered at no cost to teachers, who are selected by their school superintendents to attend. Educators receive a stipend for their participation, funded by membership fees that school districts pay to be part of the alliance. Participating teachers are not limited to certain grade levels or areas of study.
For example, Goodson said, the Teacher Leadership Institute’s health sciences workshop held at Pitt Community College this week is not geared toward health sciences instructors.
“That sounds a little weird,” he said, laughing, “but the reason for that is they already know what we’re going to tell them. We want that sixth-grade English teacher or that ninth-grade social studies teacher because they might not know about the industry clusters. We want more of those general teachers.”
At the two-day institutes, teachers not only learn ways to incorporate career education into their curriculum, they participate in industry tours and a networking dinner. The institute also includes tours of host institutions, focused on labs and classrooms where students train for industry jobs.
Educator Ben Poulin represented Mattamuskeet School in Hyde County at sessions on aviation and agriculture last summer. Poulin, who moved to North Carolina from Maine two years ago, said the institute was an eye-opening experience.
“It was a great opportunity for me to learn a lot about what was around,” he said. “But in talking to other people, even those that lived here their whole life, they didn’t know.
“There are a lot of jobs, many of which require some technical skills,” said Poulin, who is now industry training and unmanned aircraft systems operations program coordinator for Beaufort County Community College. “There’s a range of jobs available in eastern North Carolina. I think a lot of students don’t recognize that. The whole purpose of that program is to connect some dots.”
Thea Mills, who is in her fourth year of teaching at SouthWest Edgecombe High School near Rocky Mount, was among about 30 teachers from several counties attending the institute’s health sciences session at PCC this week.
“It helps me teach my curriculum, but it also gives a real-life context that kids can understand,” said Mills, an earth and environmental science teacher. “I saw a tie-in between careers and training that is available and very reasonable for my students. … I, personally, am really passionate about talking with them about their futures.”
Blair Driver, who teaches eighth-grade science and social studies at E.B. Aycock Middle School, believes conversations about careers need to begin no later than middle school.
“One of the things I’ve noticed over the last two years is students ask more, ‘Why do I have to know this? Why is it important to me?’” Driver said. “I think if we could help bridge that gap between local industries and our schools, maybe we can make what we’re teaching more meaningful to our students. If we can bring more meaning to our students, we can help out our local economies.
“Maybe they (graduates) won’t leave to go to Raleigh. Maybe they won’t leave to go to Charlotte.”
Goodson said NC East Alliance has plans to expand the workshops and hopes to offer weekend sessions in the fall and spring. The organization is considering creating virtual resources in an effort to reach more of the 13,000 teachers in the region.
“We hope this can be a model,” he said. “In other rural regions throughout the country, you have to work together, blend your resources together to make things work.
“We’ve already had other rural regions in North Carolina reach out to us and say, ‘How can we be a part of this?’ or ‘How can we implement this into our county?’ We don’t know what to tell them quite yet, but we’re hoping we’ll be very successful in the future and we’ll be able to take it to other places.”
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