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workforce with the technical and professional skills required for new collar jobs of the future. And it provides underserved youth with an education opportunity that enables them to earn a two-year degree, along with the workplace skills required to continue their education or garner new collar competitive careers. The IBM team says the reason P-TECH is powerful is that at its foundation, P-TECH is a partnership that combines the expertise of public and private systems and institutions – school districts, community colleges and industry – with high-level government support. “I hope it continues to provide access to education and good paying careers to students, especially those from underserved and underrepresented communities,” says Heidi Kraemer, P-TECH operations manager at IBM. “I hope it continues to fill local pipeline needs with local talent helping support and sustain healthy local economies.” Legislative Support As Senator Carla Nelson explains, Minnesota desperately needs a highly-trained workforce to fill jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). “The pandemic exacerbated this need,” Nelson says. “P-TECH graduates will be first in line for a job or can continue on for further education. P-TECH will produce highly educated and trained students in high-wage, in-demand jobs. P-TECH is a win-win-win for students, industry, and a thriving Minnesota economy.” The partnership, with both public and private entities, is essential to the C-TECH and P-TECH programs. “The public private partnerships are crucial right from the beginning. Industry partners directly serve public school students through innovative leadership, apprenticeship, and technical assistance,” Nelson says. “This includes workplace learning by industry professionals, mentorships, worksite visits, speakers, and paid internships. Students who complete the P-TECH program are first in line for a job with participating business partners.” As with any legislative committee, Nelson says it is important to have support from the committee chair. As former chair of the Senate E-12 Committee, Nelson was happy to have been the chief author
and lead negotiator of the final bill.“Our senate hearing included great testimony for the highly successful P-TECH model in New York, as well as a few representatives from IBM in Rochester who testified as the lead industry partner,” Nelson says. “My goal is to have a P-TECH model in each of the economic regions of our state. This will require further legislative approval.” Business partners throughout the state, as well as public schools throughout the state, have been inquiring about how to get the P-TECH model in their area. “I look forward to supporting this effort as we move further, but I am very pleased to have been a part of the opening of the P-TECH school in Roch- ester this year, and I look forward to the success of each and every student who participates,” Nelson says. Looking Ahead According to Dr. Pekel, RPS has had several community business partners describe hiring current and former students as well as several who have hired parents of current students as a result of their partnership with RPS.“P-TECH has the ability to expand into other pathways and/or add additional cohorts of students,” Pekel says. “CTECH is always looking to add pathways that align workforce needs with student passions.” Boyd pointed out that graduates of these programs will fill the critical workforce needs for businesses and organizations. “Working collaboratively with secondary and post-secondary educators and business partners to develop curriculum and work-based learning experience, ensures that the future workforce has the skills necessary for careers in these critical fields,” Boyd says. “Preliminary discussions are already underway to explore the expansion of these types of partnerships for other high demand career pathways.” The Mayo Clinic desires to see these programs continue to grow and mature into talent pipelines for employment. “More so than ever, I believe we need to count on properly prepared and passionate talent coming out of our high schools to meet the various workforce needs in our communities,” Finne says. “Having both a strong CTECH and PTECH in our backyard will be part of our workforce talent shortage solution.”
Advantage Magazine | 7
November 2021
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