CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO continued
But Chartrand didn’t want to stop with just Clay County. So, Schofield began doing workshops for other counties. And soon, with Schofield’s leadership, they had struck a deal for Code.org to work in a seven-county region, expanding beyond just elementary schools to middle and high school computer science courses. Chartrand recognized that Schofield had the grit, passion, expertise and energy to meet unreasonable expectations and he wanted her to do more than focus on one district and lead coding workshops. He wanted Schofield to lead STEM2 Hub. She officially joined the team in 2017, as the In-School Program Director, kickstarting the computer science initiative, and took the reigns as executive director in 2018, replacing Copeland, who retired. A LEAP OF FAITH “I took a risk andmade a leap of faith in joining STEM2 Hub. I loved Chartrand’s vision, and I knew I could help accelerate this for him. I knew that leaving a school district and joining a start-up nonprofit would bringme new challenges, but I knew that the opportunity to impact hundreds of thousands of students was too great to pass up. I have never regretted the decision for even a moment.” STEM2 Hub’s work covers in- and out-of-school venues, including: • Supportingmore than
Chartrand met McCombs and realized that he was the spark that could accelerate access to competitive robotics and bring opportunities to more youth in the Jacksonville area. By investing in McCombs and his dream, Chartrand, and the STEM2 Hub, seeded the start-up of Renaissance Jax. This was a critical move in the development of the Northeast Florida STEM Learning Ecosystem. The program in the Clay County School District joined with Renaissance Jax, doubling the impact and streamlining efforts by working together. Within the first two years of the investment and the collaboration, national leaders at FIRST took notice of the exponential program growth in Northeast Florida and came to town to learn more about how the region was growing so rapidly.
A LEADERWITH DIFFERENT SKILLS
Copeland realized that STEM2 Hub needed a different type of leader who was more skilled with lobbying, marketing and outreach, and who had both corporate and educational administration experience. “I decided that it was time for me to step away,” Copeland said.
WITHIN THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THE INVESTMENT AND
Kathleen Schofield
Chartrand had heard of powerful work that was
100 after-school robotics teams across the region. This program, led by Frank Robinson, director of the after-school program, was accomplished by working with partners, such as Communities in Schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA programs, and Girl Scout
happening in Clay County, under the leadership of Kathleen Schofield, in the areas of STEM and with competitive robots. Chartrand made it known to one of Schofield’s contacts that he would be reaching out to the then- superintendent of Clay County Schools to see if that district would help make coding happen by taking advantage of the opportunity to affiliate with Code.org. JUST SAY YES Before the call, Schofield rushed to meet up with the superintendent and said, “You’re going to be getting a call from Gary Chartrand…Please say ‘yes’ and pass me the phone.” The superintendent knew how important computer science education was for students, and honored Schofield’s request, and, in a fewweeks, she and a colleague traveled to Chicago to become trained Code.org facilitators. They began infusing the computer science training throughout the elementary schools in Clay County.
THE COLLABORATION, NATIONAL LEADERS AT FIRST TOOK NOTICE OF THE EXPONENTIAL PROGRAM GROWTH IN NORTHEAST FLORIDA AND CAME TO TOWN TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOWTHE REGIONWAS GROWING SO RAPIDLY.
Frank Robinson
Troops across the region, as well as partnering with schools providing a 21st Century Community Learning Center program. • Working with elementary school media centers to incorporate robotics and coding into media centers. More than 75 teachers and leaders across multiple counties in the region have been trained, impacting more than 37,000 students. • Infusing robotics through middle school science courses in 24 classrooms around the region by working with teachers to align content to standards and provide materials and professional development.
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
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