Feb 7, 2017 | Article
In October of last year, Educators Rising NH hosted its first fall TEACHERFEST on the campus of NHTI- Concord’s Community College as a way to expose students to NH colleges that offer degrees in education. Designed as a professional development day for high school students who attend CTE Teacher Education programs throughout the state, TEACHERFEST consisted of various mini-workshops on professional topics related to careers in education, curriculum areas, and teaching methods.
Noting approximately 350 Teacher Education students and teacher leaders from nine NH CTE centers were in attendance, Concord Regional Technical Center’s Valerie Koch, who helped organize it, said TEACHERFEST underscores a real need.
“Over 60% of teachers teach within 20 miles of where they went to high school,” she said. “We believe these future teachers understand the unique needs of our community and will be committed to serving children in their own region. We are hoping that Educators Rising NH will help to create a pipeline of quality teachers who earn degrees in our state and then stay in NH to teach and positively impact students and schools.”
Educators Rising NH is a organization that supports high school students who are interested in pursuing a career in the field of education. Educators Rising NH was officially approved by the NH Department of Education in June 2016 as a Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) and is an affiliate of the national organization, Educators Rising.
Sue Bergman, who coordinates the effort statewide for Educators Rising NH, said she wants students and teachers alike to know there is support for them. Our organization and website offer a ton of resources,” she said. “Educators Rising might be new in NH, but it is a terrific national organization…We want to continue to grow our membership here in NH.”
At TEACHERFEST, nine NH colleges and universities that offer degrees in Education were in attendance, while thirteen education professionals from throughout the state led thirty minute workshops on various topics. These topics ranged from Occupational Therapy, planning for college success, and effective parent communication to STEM education, connecting with students and more.
Other activities included voting for state officers, a selfie photo booth, a graffiti wall answering the question “What excites you most about becoming an educator?”, and “Education Rocks!” where students Zentangled™ (doodled) designs and words of inspiration on a rock to take home.
The event concluded with donated raffle prizes, students sharing their experience attending the National Conference in Boston last June, and the announcement of the first Educators Rising NH state officers. These offers are Laura Seymour (CRTC)- President, Jennika Mannesto (CRTC)- Vice President, Megan Coelho (PA)- Recording Secretary, and Emily Aham (PA) and Abigail Beaudoin (PA)- Public Relations Secretaries.
One of the highlights of the event, according to Bergman, was the keynote address by Ashley Preston, who was 2016 NH Teacher of the Year.
“We wanted her to speak at TEACHERFEST about why she is doing what she is doing,” she said. “We are losing good quality people in this state.”
For Preston, who is a preschool teacher at Parker Varney School in Manchester, NH, there is no career more rewarding–or perhaps overlooked–than as a preschool teacher.
“The biggest challenge I face as a preschool teacher is the lack of understanding about the value of early childhood education as well as what appropriate early learning actually looks like,” she said. “There is ample research on brain development that supports the importance of high quality early learning experiences. We need to provide these experiences and early academic support for our youngest students when their brains are naturally inclined to learn and grow so they are prepared for future success in school.”
Preston said the other challenge she faces as a preschool teachers is the lack of understanding by many as to what constitutes “a valid learning experience” for young children.
“Many see it as meaningless play and teachers are seen as glorified babysitters,” she said. “Preschool students should be playing because that is how they are learning,”
According to Preston, well-trained preschool teachers are able to use structured and unstructured play as learning tools to teach literacy, math, social skills, collaboration, language, and much more.
“Seeing play as invalid learning supports the idea that preschool is not important, which creates this negative perception for us to overcome,” she said.
In speaking on the experience of teaching and why it is so important for her, Preston said the students do more for her than she could ever possibly do for them. She referred to her students as “builders, creators, artists and more.”
“They make me laugh and sometimes they make me cry, but they never stop amazing me,” she said. “The things they can do, their ability to work and learn together despite their challenges or differences, it gives me hope every day.”
To learn more about Educators Rising NH, visit https://www.educatorsrising.org.
Dec 22, 2016 | Article
With more than 60 enrolled students, Seacoast School of Technology’s Animal & Plant Science program recently saw three of its own—seniors Jalin Marston, Rebecca Bernier and Madelyn Bentz—achieve success at the national level. Competing in October at the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Marston secured a gold while Bernier and Bentz grabbed a silver and bronze, respectively.
Instructor Anne Demarco said she could not be more proud of their accomplishments. “The girls learned a lot—it was an eye-opening experience for them,” she said. “They did outstanding.”
The students qualified for the national competition after winning at the state level with a project in aquaponics where they grew plants by using fish waste in a re-circulating system. At the national convention, students were presented with written tests and asked to participate in a mock press conference about their project with each student fulfilling a particular role. They also presented in front of a panel of national judges with a project proposal that was submitted in August.
“Our job was to focus on one area for the competition, which was agricultural communication, so it involved marketing and journalism,” said Marston. “The purpose was to communicate about an innovative practice to the surrounding communities.”
Demarco said their performance was even more incredible given the fact the students had only worked together for one year. Whereas the programs at SST are two years, she said those of other states are 4 or 6 years. Some CTE programs in NH offer up to 4 years of instruction as well. “Other kids around the country get to specialize where we provide a little bit of everything in our program,” she added.
Noting one relatively new addition to her program is sustainable agriculture, Demarco said there are a number of skills her students are developing in addition to technical knowledge.
“They are definitely learning team work, time management and working under deadlines,” she said. “They are learning perseverance and networking, problem solving. They are also learning to be courteous and respectful, as we send them to other professionals when they are doing research. The students learn a lot of important skills that will transfer across many areas.”
As for the experience at the National FFA Convention & Expo itself, Bentz said they were “really proud” of themselves. She said the takeaway from her participation at the event national convention was that she is not alone in her ambitions. “It was great to see so many students with such passion for agriculture,” she said. “All across the country, there are teenagers who want to make a difference.”
Noting there were substantial expenses incurred to make the trip to the national convention, Bernier said it was worth it. She cited a private donation from the Pomona (5th Degree) Grange for the area East Rockingham Pomona as instrumental in their ability to also enjoy themselves outside of the competition. “We went to a rodeo and concerts—it was a lot of fun,” she said.
According to all three students, Seacoast School of Technology’s Animal & Plant Science program has been a great experience. They each also expressed gratitude at the additional opportunity to participate in the National FFA Organization.
Referring to it as “a family,” Bentz said FFA provides leadership and professional opportunities. “Whenever you wear one of these iconic FFA blue corduroy jackets, the feeling is indescribable,” she said.
Bernier agreed and added, “All of the jackets on the back have the state you are from and the chapter you are in and an emblem that signifies that everyone is together. We are all potentially a family. We respect each other and we are part of the same organization.”
In summing up what she hopes all students ultimately take from Seacoast School of Technology’s Animal & Plant Science program, Demarco cited a “belief” they can solve anything.
“These kids are capable of thinking outside the box with the skills they have developed here,” she said. “I hope they have also developed an appreciation for the huge field of agriculture—it ties into everything and every industry….Whether we are feeding the world, saving the environment, or helping someone’s pet, our field makes the world a better place.”
Photo Credit:
Left to Right: Jalin Marston, Madelyn Bentz and Rebecca Bernier
Dec 22, 2016 | Article
While the existence of robots still seems like science fiction for many parents, today’s students are actively programming and working with them in anticipation of entering an increasingly technology-oriented workplace. Recently, 6 teams from Pinkerton Academy VEX Robotics program tried their hand at designing and programming a robot at Pembroke Academy’s Winter Classic Robotics Competition on Saturday December 3rd.
“Five teams made it to the quarterfinals round and two to the semifinals,” noted Engineering Instructor, and VEX Robotics Advisor Ernie Biron.
Team 241A, however, distinguished itself even further by winning the Design Award for their robot and documentation, which qualifies them for the Regional Finals in February at Manchester Community College.
For Biron, VEX Robotics is unique in its ability to provide a hands-on way for students to learn STEM and how to problem-solve, while also recognizing “the technological wonders around them.” “It shows them how they can become a part of changing the future of technology,” he added.
According to the students themselves, their participation in the program stems from a tangible desire to prepare for this future. “I like [the program] because it gives you a real world outlet,” said Alex Mielens, captain of Team 241A. “We are all thinking ahead—we want to be engineers.”
Fellow participant Nathan Stallings agreed and added, “I personally joined because I want to be a robotic engineer. I want to expand my education and understand how robots work.”
Biron said he is particularly impressed at how the program also demands that students rigorously document their work.
“Students need to keep a running record of how they came up with the design, issues, flaws, corrections, and the engineering and STEM principles used in completing their robots,” he said. “Teams cannot be considered for Design or Excellence awards unless they have a really good document package.”
In addition to learning how to build a robot that meets a specific challenge, the students themselves noted the program also helps build other skills, including team work. Citing ten students on Team 241A, Senior Mike Estes said it can definitely be a challenge to keep everyone involved in the project.
“It’s hard to give work to everybody,” he said. “Everybody is at different grade levels, too—some are freshmen, others are seniors. We run into issues, but work through them.”
Jessica Lacey, a first-year participant in the program, said working in a group has been “an interesting experience.” She said she has been surprised, however, at how working in a group has enhanced her understanding of robotics.
“I’ve worked with VEX parts before, but by working in larger groups I’ve learned a lot from bouncing my ideas off other people and other teams,” she said. “It’s been a huge learning curve for me, but very interesting.”
For younger students unsure as to whether to get involved in a robotics program, first-year participant Stasia Sturdivant said she suggests they attend a competition, which is what she did for her own younger sister.
“I got my 5th grade sister interested by bringing her here during meeting nights, showing videos and bringing her to competitions,” she said. “I think it would piqué a lot of students’ interest.”
In addition to watching his teams perform at and excel in various competitions, Biron said he also especially enjoys the fact that the program continues to grow. Citing this as his 4th year instructing VEX Robotics students, he said his program has more than doubled in size from his first year.
“When I first started, we had only about 20 kids with maybe 10 to 14 coming in consistently,” he said. “Now, I get over 50 and have to turn down some as the teams are way too large at times to be fun.
He said his personal goal is to try and expand the program into Derry’s elementary and middle schools.
“I hope to add more teams as funds or costs come down, but that’s hard as I use the same components to teach my engineering classes,” he said. “For now, I’m just enjoying the hard work put in by our current teams who are representing Pinkerton Academy proudly.”
Biron said he also takes pride in the accomplishment of a former student. “One of my past students started a college team at UNH last year,” he added. “It’s exciting to see that, too.”
Photo Credit:
Pinkerton Academy Vex Robotics students
l-r front row – Jessica Lacey, Stasia Sturdivant ( both first year robotics students)
l-r back row – Mike Estes, Alex Mielens, Nate Stallings, Austin Caux (all 3-4 year robotics students)
Nov 29, 2016 | Article
Distracted driving is a societal problem and one that 3 students in Pinkerton Academy’s Video Production program tackled head on this past spring in their production of videos for The Community Alliance for Teen Safety.
Producing, shooting and editing a 30 second, 1 minute, and 90 second video versions, the students involved in the project were seniors Ryan Fuller, Jenelle Giordano, and Allison Patt. Along with screenings at local movie theaters, UNH hockey games, local TV and various events, their video, “Finish Your Story,” was nominated and won a “Student Award of Excellence” from the National Academy of Television Arts and Science. The trio also won a student Emmy from the New England Chapter and were nominated for a National Student Emmy by the Academy.
Expressing excitement at the their achievement, Christopher Lord, teacher of Video Production at Pinkerton Academy, said the students did a tremendous amount of work in creating the videos.
“We coordinated with Derry TV and Fire to act as talent and provide ambulances, fire trucks, and cruisers for our accident reenactment scene,” he said. “We hired a local makeup artist to do the gory post accident scenes and convinced a local junkyard to provide us with a couple smashed up cars to finish setting the scene.”
He said they even received some help from students in the culinary arts program. “They chopped us some onions to help a student actor to cry while telling the story of his accident,” he added.
For Lord, one of the highlights of the entire experience was watching the live student Emmys in class and seeing Jeopardy’s Alex Trebec announcing Pinkerton Academy as a nominee for best PSA.
He said another highlight was the quality of the students’ work, including pre-production elements, which helped to shape “ a different kind of distracted driving video.”
“The students surveyed classmates about what they found distracted them the most while driving,” he said. “This survey sent us in an unexpected direction beyond the obvious ‘texting while driving’ and instead found that other kids in the car did silly things, followed GPS systems, and searched songs on their I-Pods. [These things] were what students felt took their eyes and minds off the road the most.”
For Giordano, the entire project represented an incredible opportunity to collaborate with numerous people and entities outside of Pinkerton Academy. She said the biggest challenge was shooting the videos in 5 hours during which time all actors received their special effect makeup done, cars were flipped over and repositioned, and windshields were broken among other elements.
“Although the PSA is short, a lot of time and effort went into creating it,” she explained. “We spent weeks planning and organizing it…I can’t express how grateful I am for the experience. It was just a taste of what I hope my future holds.”
It is a future she believes Pinkerton Academy has helped shape.
“Joining video production at Pinkerton has shaped my future and nurtured my love for film,” she said. “Pinkerton’s video production classes have prepared me as much as they could for the future industry.”
Currently attending Santa Barbara City College online school, Giordano said she will be moving out to Los Angeles in January in hopes to start working in the tv/film industry in Hollywood.
“Chris Lord gave Allie, Ryan, and I so much opportunity with the films we created,” she said. “He believed in our films enough to enter them into many film festivals–and because of that, our resumes have been built up from all of our nominations and wins. I can’t thank Pinkerton Academy and Chris Lord enough for all they have done for me in preparing me for my future.”
To see the full PSA Version for Broadcast, click https://vimeo.com/170480039.
Nov 7, 2016 | Article, Uncategorized
Sometimes, youth must think “tiny” in order to dream big, which is a metaphorical concept that will come to life for about 100 Career and Technical Education (CTE) students in the next 4 to 5 months. Representing 4 CTE centers from across NH, these students will build 5 “tiny” homes as part of a competition and workforce-development initiative developed by the New Hampshire Home Builders Association (NHHBA) and The New Hampshire Lottery.
According to NHHBA Business Development Director Scott Palmer, the initiative underscores a very real need in the workforce.
“The companies involved in this project all have this problem—there is too much work and not enough workers,” he said. “Having something like this that develops relationships with kids really appeals to everybody.”
The stakes are fairly high for the students, too, as the tiny homes must all be completed by March for the 50th annual New Hampshire State Home Show in Manchester. At the show, judges will declare the winning house, which will be won by the individual who comes in second place in “Tiny House Big Money,” a new scratch ticket game that begins in January. The winner will win $10,000, while the houses that do not win will be auctioned or raffled off with proceeds divided in several ways.
“When the houses sell, some of the funds will go to the schools and some will go to a local NHHBA chapter,” said Palmer. “Money will also go towards our Hammer for Veterans program, which provides professional home construction related services to veterans and their families…We hope we can make enough money to keep this tiny home building initiative going annually.”
As for what the students learn from participating in the program, NHHBA Member Al Lawrence, who owns Artisan Electrical Contractors and will donate his time to check the electrical work of all student teams, the initiative is important.
“It’s a real-life scenario where they can see everything that goes into building a home,” he said. “These homes may be tiny, but they need to be built like any other home…I am all for this project and look forward to doing whatever I can to mentor these students and hopefully help to spark their interest in a career in the trades.”
In directly connecting professionals from industry with the students, Palmer said it is their collective hope that the program can help “bridge a gap.”
“If we can get these kids to understand this is a good industry and that they can make a good living, that would be great,” he said.
Palmer said another outcome from the competition/initiative would be an enhanced understanding regarding the industry itself.
“It’s not just swinging a hammer—this is a very modern industry that is very technology focused,” he added. “It is incredible how homes are built and everything else that goes into it.”
For Lawrence, the project underscores a subtle point.
“We need to get kids excited about the trades,” he said. “It’s rapidly evolving and technology has changed many of the tools we use today. Whatever most people think about the trades, the reality is there is more room for growth than people realize. This tiny home initiative is as exciting for us already in the trades as it is for the kids.”
Participating students are from Alvirne High School in Hudson, the Huot Technical Center in Laconia, Kennett High School in North Conway and the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter.
To learn more about NHHBA, visit www.nhhba.com.
Nov 7, 2016 | Article
Requiring education beyond that of high school but less than a 4-year college degree, middle-skill jobs make up the largest portion of the current labor market in the nation and in each of the 50 states. In fact, according to a report by the Harvard Business School, 69% of HR executives note that their inability to attract and retain middle-skills talent frequently affects their firm’s performance.
In New Hampshire, these data points reveal only part of the reality behind what is often characterized as today’s “middle-skill gap.” According to the most recent National Skills Coalition analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics, middle-skill jobs account for 54 percent of New Hampshire’s labor market, while just 43 percent of the state’s workers are trained to the middle-skill level.
“In the next ten years, there are going to be more jobs in this ‘middle area’ than in any other sector of the labor market,” said Steve Rothenberg, board president of the New Hampshire Career and Technical Administrators (NHCTA). “This is what makes Career and Technical Education (CTE) so important in New Hampshire—it fills a very real need now and in the future.”
Whereas the traditional conception of CTE programs is somewhat narrow, the reality is they are incredibly diverse. Offered at 30 high school Centers across the state, current CTE programs range from construction, automotive technology and welding to graphic design, health professions, accounting, business, child development and information technology.
Lisa Danley, director of the Cheshire Career Center in Keene, said that CTE is defined by its usefulness to industry.
“The programs we offer are aligned with college courses and programs and industry needs across the state,” she said. “Programs are not designed in a vacuum.”
Beth Doiron, director of College Access and DoE Programs at the Community College System of NH, agreed and said collaboration with the business sector is critical. “Everything taking place with the CTE sector is aligned with real needs in the labor market,” she added.
The Next ‘Gig’
Whereas the goal of Americans years ago may have centered on the idea that a great career consisted in working at one place of employment, such an aspiration is no longer the norm. With tens of millions of Americans involved in some form of freelancing, contracting, temping or outsourcing, the employment landscape is rapidly and radically changing.
According to a report by the Deloitte University Press, nearly half of executives surveyed expect to increase the use of “contingent workers” in the next three to five years. This concept of contingent workers is found within the overall larger concept of the “gig-based economy,” which is loosely defined as networks of people who work without formal employment agreements. Moreover, a gig economy is also seen as one in which an increased use of machines is expected.
“Gig-based” employment, which is really at the foundation of the gig-economy, is becoming a serious factor in making real change, especially within middle-skills job market,” said Doug Cullen, founding president of the Vermont/New Hampshire Career Development Association (VT/NH CDA). “It is a migration from the employee/employer understanding of shared security and shared growth to one that creates uncertainty and potentially a lack of loyalty for the employee base.”
Work-Based Learning
In response to the gig-based economy and a number of other related factors, Cullen said CTE has begun to move toward the utilization of work-based learning (WBL) initiatives more comprehensively in the career development process. As an example, he cited Vermont where legislation was just passed that supports WBL.
“It stipulates that Vermont high schools must have or contract with CTE centers for WBL services, which extends upon the services CTE Centers can offer to high schools,” he said. “In December of last year, the National Governor’s Association announced New Hampshire as one of 6 states in the U.S. selected to participate in the 2016 Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning.”
Noting there are currently more than 20 distinct projects in NH that surround WBL-related interventions for various aged learners, Cullen said these efforts support the concept of ready-for-work and ready-for-college.
“Whether it is an apprenticeship, mentoring or internships, WBL initiatives are important in that they extend the classroom into the workplace and connect acquired knowledge and skills to a student‘s future employment,” he said. “WBL is what we need to help tomorrow’s workforce begin to develop the middle skills they will need today.”
