COMMUNITY STRENGTH THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION

THROUGH PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMUNITY STRENGTH

The St. Vrain Valley community features a diverse mix of industries driving local, national, and global economies. Every day through Community Strong, we have unique opportunities to collaborate with a high concentration of companies operating in the aerospace, bioscience, cleantech, IT/software, natural products, and outdoor recreation sectors. Together we develop curriculum, share expertise, and explore the passions and interests of our students and teachers.

Photo: Students from Alpine Elementary at a Longmont Museum exhibit.

Photo: Matthew Fuller, sophomore, works with Anark Solution Engineers.

ON-THE-JOB EDUCATION: PARTNERSHIP PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH SKILLS, REAL-WORLD OPPORTUNITIES

Boulder-based Anark Corporation develops and markets software products for the tech industry, serving companies such as GE, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and many others, with a worldwide network of technology and implementation partners. During summer 2019, five motivated students completed a landmark, four-week, paid internship offered by Anark Corporation resulting from the company’s budding partnership with the Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools. “We found out about St. Vrain Valley Schools’ Innovation Center and were entirely intrigued by the work that they are doing,” says Anark CTO Scott Collins. “We think SVVSD is leaping ahead of surrounding Colorado school districts in STEM education, and seems to have a solid grasp on what colleges and employers need from graduating seniors.”

Collins met with Axel Reitzig, innovation coordinator at the Innovation Center, and Matthew Wiggins, director of community and business development. Together, they generated a plan to adapt the corporation’s existing college internship program to work with younger students. Throughout July, the five students earned $15/hour working 15 hours/week testing software. Students were asked to develop testing plans for the cloudhosted product, impressing mentors Axel Larsson and Lucas Peterson, Anark Solutions Engineers, with ideas, enthusiasm, and initiative. Larsson and Peterson set up a system allowing students to test the product and communicate with them from within the infrastructure of the Innovation Center. Additionally, Larsson and Peterson traveled to the IC to meet with the students weekly. “It was great to have kids coming through, becoming aware of the things we work with,” Larsson says. “The students offered a unique perspective. They found some bugs we’d missed.”

Photo: Joren Hansen, Frederick High freshman, works with his mentor during a P-TECH event.

WARRIOR TECH

In fall 2019, Frederick High School opened the doors to Warrior

Tech, St. Vrain Valley Schools’ second Pathways in Technology

Early College High School, or P-TECH, program. More than 30 ninth graders committed to a rigorous and rewarding path, earning their high school diploma and associate degree in biochemistry simultaneously, all at no charge to the student. The school’s industry partners, along with its higher education partner, AIMS Community College, play a central role in the program’s success. In addition to providing mentoring and internship opportunities, they also help to develop the course sequence and ensure students are learning skills to be competitive in the job market. The goal of the program is to provide students with immediate job opportunities upon graduation or a shortened path to a four-year degree (or both).

“This will give me college credits and the classes that I need to get ahead,” Frederick freshman Mystique Lor said. “It’s stressful right now, but in the end the associate degree will be worth it.” In September, to kick things off, professionals from Warrior Tech’s industry partners, Agilent Technologies, AveXis, and Tolmar, began their quarterly mentor events, providing 1:1 mentoring for every P-TECH student. Mentors began by visiting students at Frederick High School, meeting their mentees, and participating in interviews and tours. Over students’ four to six years in the program, they will also participate in numerous workplace visits, internship opportunities, and workplace skills training.

In November, in recognition of Agilent, AveXis, and Tolmar’s role in P-TECH, the group received the Colorado Bioscience Association’s Institute Leadership Award. Industry leaders like

Sally Dyer, Vice President at AveXis, have been strong advocates for the program. “We can help them see what the outcome of their education can be...we’re really here to help.”

FUELING ADVANCEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING

In Colorado, nearly 6,000 manufacturers across a variety of business sectors including electronics, energy, aerospace, biomedical, and food and beverage are disrupting their industries with advancements in manufacturing technologies. Statewide, experts predict there will be 5,000 new manufacturing jobs created by 2026.

Our state’s growing strength in advanced manufacturing, paired with a host of supportive local partners, has set the stage for a new Advanced Manufacturing Academy at the Career Development Center (CDC). The CDC has worked side by side with Front Range Community College (FRCC) and several local manufacturing partners to build awareness of the initiative, learn what skills employers are looking for, and discover what curriculum and certifications should be cultivated.

Currently, students have the opportunity to study four manufacturing disciplines—machining, welding, electronics, and optics. They will be introduced to manufacturing processes, quality assurance, certifications in safety, and basic employment skills. As they explore these new pathways, opportunities to engage with real professionals and hands-on learning will be offered via facility tours, product assembly, and use of specialized equipment.

Photo: Student at the Career Development Center (CDC) welding.

Over the next two years, community partners will continue to guide St. Vrain in the development of coursework, certifications, internships and potential apprenticeships. The new Advanced Manufacturing Academy has already received tremendous community support from many organizations, including: • Aleph Objects • BI Incorporated • Black Fox Certifications • Boulder Chamber • CareerWise • Cemex • Crestone Peak Resources • Diabase Engineering • Epocs Manufacturing • Front Range Community College • High Country Technology

Consultants • Lexmark • Longmont Economic Development

Partnership • Medtronic • MKS Instruments • NoCo Manufacturing Partnership • PTA Plastics • REO/Excelitas Technologies • Sparkfun • Specialty Products Company • St. Vrain Manufacturing • Sticker Giant • Tolmar Pharmaceuticals • X-Cal

BUILDING AND SECURING OUR DATADRIVEN FUTURE

As the “Internet of Things” takes greater hold of automating tasks, tracking our health, and improving the quality of our lives, an entirely new industry of jobs is being created. Recognizing the power that data will hold in the future direction of our society, St. Vrain Valley Schools is launching an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybersecurity Hub at the Innovation Center that will cultivate skills for students to pursue new careers and champion the power of our data-driven future.

With a focus on technical skills, analysis, leadership, ethics, and innovation, the Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Hub will partner with leading industry experts like Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Misty Robotics, Boulder AI, and WinterWinds Robotics to design curriculum pathways that will give students a competitive advantage in this emerging field.

“Natural language processing, visual recognition, data analysis, machine learning, and complex neural models are all important areas of study for students to start engaging in now,” said Axel Reitzig, innovation coordinator at the Innovation Center. “Moving forward, our whole society will be centered on the use of those types of data and also how we keep that information secure.”

Over the next three years, the Artificial Intelligence Leadership Team, comprised of students, educators, and industry leaders, will pilot AI learning in classrooms across St. Vrain. Building on strong cybersecurity programs already in place at secondary schools in the district, the Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Hub will develop even more engineering and design opportunities for students to enhance their career and postsecondary preparation to make a big impact in the future.

Photos: Students from the Innovation Center learn Python coding through a partnership with PYNQ.

Through a partnership with Xilinx, students engaged over five days with Xilinx experts to learn Python coding, engineering with the PYNQ boards, and design an invention to make the world more sustainable.

At the end of the bootcamp, students showcased their inventions and competed to be recognized as the best project, including the award for best use of PYNQ which went to Team “Kids with Hats” who designed a janitor assistant robot that used sensors to identify trash and pick it up.

Students were able to keep their Xilinx-donated PYNQ boards so they could continue their learning at home and share the technology with fellow students.

XILINX TURNS THE INNOVATION CENTER PYNQ

From band camps to robotics classes, students across St. Vrain

Valley Schools are deeply engaged in learning new skills over the summer that advance their personal growth and interests.

During summer 2019, one opportunity at the Innovation Center was a PYNQ bootcamp for secondary students to get hands-on with engineering and invention using the PYNQ board technology developed by Xilinx and Python computer programming.