Ep 7 | Making Money: Job Skills & Opportunity

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Our programs that are all over the district, uh they they run the whole gamut of anything that a person might be interested in as a career later in life, there's probably a workforce education program associated with that career.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome to the Voices United in Education Podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. As a kid in school, I always asked my teachers, when am I ever going to use this in real life? Then when I launched into the real life via a real job search, I was hit with experience required at every application. Needing to get hired to get experience, but not able to get hired without experience felt like getting the proverbial adulting rug pulled out from under me. My next guest is hoping to remedy this problem by training and credentialing students to be skilled workers before they even graduate high school. After four years in the Air Force, he joined the family business of teaching school and has since invested 18 years in various roles in education. He's now the director of Escambia County School District Workforce Education. And today he's going to share how the program is supporting both student education and life beyond the campus. Tate High graduate, professional connector, proud dad of two boys, Stephen Harrell. Thanks for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Thank you for inviting me. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I really am enjoying the two kid tie scenario.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Oh, yeah. I always say if I'm going to wear a tie, it needs to have something good looking on it. So it's always going to have my boys.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

That's so perfect. Well, I'm really excited to hear about the origin story of this program because when I learned more about it, I thought, wow, this makes so much sense, not just for students, but for our community. So tell me how it got started.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Sure. Well, workforce education and uh our career and technical education programs uh have always been there in our schools, uh, and their purpose and goal is to prepare students to have the relevant skills for the workforce that they're going to need to enter into uh the local workforce, to go on to post-secondary training or to enter the military. But the primary focus is so that we give students skills to be able to go get a job when they graduate. Uh, we want a student to graduate with a diploma in one hand and a handful of skills in the other. And usually that's in the form of an industry certification. Um we like to get those students all of those skills, and an employer can look at them and say, wow, I know this uh young person has exactly the things we need to operate our business efficiently and effectively.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

And so how did it get started? Has it been around a long time? What's its uh backstory?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Absolutely. Uh the career in technical education has been in our school since the very beginning. A lot of the parents out there are going to remember uh what used to be a shop class, um, business education, family and consumer sciences. All of those programs fall under workforce education. You can basically say if it's a class that isn't one of your core content areas or one of the arts uh-based electives, it probably falls under workforce education. So uh our programs that are all over the district, uh, they they run the whole gamut of anything that a person might be interested in as a career later in life, there's probably a workforce education program associated with that career.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

When you said shop class, that registered in my 80s baby's mind. Sure. So that that checked out. How has this program changed since the 80s?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Sure. So I I did say that it used to be called a shop class because now you'll walk into a skilled trades facility. Uh it might look something like a shop class used to, but we are no longer just building a birdhouse or something like that here and there.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

It was a napkin holder, if you must know.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Absolutely, absolutely. I made lots of cutting boards in my day in shop class at Tate. Um, but now we uh give students those entry-level skills. We teach them how to identify the different types of hammers, how to stay safe on the current, you know, construction job site. But they also might find themselves programming a CNC router uh to be able to cut custom countertops or custom signage, uh, that kind of thing, because the skills have evolved over the years. When I was a student in high school, I don't even know if a CNC router was in existence. And if it was, I never saw one. But our students today won't have to say that same thing. They'll know exactly how that custom piece of um cabinetry got cut out with such precision because they've operated that machinery within our uh programs.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

And does this type of education exist in every public school in Escambia County?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Uh every middle and high school has at least one career academy. All of pretty much all of them have multiple career academy options now. And um, so yes, there are career and technical education programs at the middle and high school level and at the post-secondary level with Georgetown Technical College. Uh so if there's uh a job that you are interested in as a young person, um, the right opportunity and the right option for you isn't everywhere, but there's the right option somewhere in Escambia County. So I say that because not every school has a skilled trades academy, not every school has an agri-science program, um, but a lot of them do. And we offer school choice where students can move from one school to the other uh to experience these programs that they're interested in. So um, if there is a high demand from the students in a particular community, we'll add a new program. If employers tell us that we need people with a particular skill set, we'll add a new program for that. I can think of an example recently when the Scambia County government, not the school district, but the county itself, said we need firefighters and we need corrections officers. What should we do? So, in a response to that, the county gave us some money and we pitched in with some uh Carl D. Perkins grants money, uh some CAPE funds and other funding sources to get two new career academies started, one here at Pine Force High School, the Escambia County Firefighter Academy, and one at Escambia High School that is the Escambia County Criminal Justice Academy that focuses on not just corrections officers, but all elements of the uh criminal justice um career pathway. So the county gave us that seed money, and then we stack some other funding on top of it to make sure that students had years of opportunities to learn about those specific career fields. And we are graduating students now with certifications that prepare them for that and set the stage for them to have a fulfilling career right here in our community.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

That's incredible. So you're kind of what I hear you're saying is that a lot of these students are staying in the community with these skills.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yes. Um, you know, I I've long said that um an engineer um should have some calluses on their hands uh because making an engineer is a good thing, but making an engineer with calluses on their thing, their hands is a great thing. But we also say that uh warms our heart when a young person learns something here in Scambia County and gets a job because of that, but it warms my soul when that student decides to use those skills right here in our community. Um, you know, we we try to invest in the needs of what everyone here needs. Businesses come to us uh through our advisory councils and say, hey, we're noticing that people are lacking an X, Y, or Z skill set. And then we turn around and adjust our curriculum to match that for exactly that purpose. We want the students to graduate here in Escambia County with skills that allow them to work right here in Escambia County. If they choose to move somewhere else, that's great, that's fine, that's their choice, but it's um it's a better thing when our community grows our own.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Absolutely. Are the advice advisory um input that you're getting, is it sectioned out by area? So, like um, you know, Tate High, the the community around there would give specific feedback, Warrington specific feedback.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

The way we actually divide our advisory councils are by career pathways. So um if we have a law and public service uh advisory council, all of the law and public service programs from around the district meet for those advisory councils because um the you know the community is kind of large. Uh takes an hour to get from one end to the other of Escambia County, but we have similar needs across the county. Um, you know, the uh vacancies and corrections positions, like I mentioned earlier, don't just exist right here in town. They also exist on the north end of town with the the century prison up there. So, you know, there are chances for uh the advisory council members to impact the entire county or even the multi-county area. We have businesses that are looking for aviation maintenance technicians, for example, that come from Santa Rosa County or the next county over, and they'll sit on our advisory council because they know that graduates from our program at uh Booker T. Washington High School's Aviation Technology program, they tend to go on to George Stone for uh full-on aviation maintenance and get that um uh airframe and power plant certification that would qualify them to work on any job in the uh aviation maintenance industry. So I I I hope I'm not getting too uh deep down the trail there, but uh answer your question, the real division for the uh advisory council meetings is between content areas. And you know, anybody is welcome to come and give us input for that. Um you know, in the end, the the hope is that the students work here. But uh look, I'm I'm happy for a student to get a job anywhere when they graduate.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Well, that makes sense. That the um the input is based on the opportunity. Um when you in the last I'll say three years, what have you heard the most as far as needs in the in our community?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

In Pensacole, I know that's a broader Sure, sure, but there are some that rise to the top. Um what you will often hear in economic development discussions are uh that we need definitely aviation maintenance technicians. Um there's been a big project happening at the uh airport for a while, um a very large company bringing in thousands of jobs, and um they have to have a talent pipeline in place in order to fill those needs for those jobs. So we've been working hard to graduate as many students with um aviation maintenance credentials as we can, but we know we need to do more. Um so you know, if you're hearing this podcast, come sign up for one of our aviation maintenance programs. And you know, there's a job waiting on the other end of that for everybody there, most definitely. Uh cybersecurity is always big lately. Um, there's actually a cybersecurity academy right here at this school, a couple of doors down from the room we're in now, um, that uh prepares students with a fistful of certifications that employers are looking for in cybersecurity. And they are relevant skill sets that a student can leave high school and step right into a high-paying job, a high-demand career field that um, you know, everybody needs cybersecurity, and uh Pensacola is no exception to that. We have quite a few cybersecurity elements that are looking for uh employees. Healthcare is always big. Um, you know, healthcare has been struggling to find employees, but honestly, those are the big ones that I would have said before the pandemic at, you know, at this point, um, everybody's looking for employees. So uh really it's a um employees market rather than an employer's market at this point. So um uh as a young person, uh I would recommend that they find something they're interested in and go for it because there's likely to be an opportunity somewhere associated with that interest.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Well, it's the perfect um perfect storm isn't the right word, but it is kind of the perfect setup, I'll say, for students who are wanting to have employment right after graduation, that they can not only easily get that employment because of how everyone's hiring, but they'll stand out if they have this uh this education under their belt.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

We're talking a lot about hard skills, but are there any soft skills that come through in result of this education?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Sure. Um one of the components of pretty much all of our workforce education, career and technical education programs is employability skills. Uh we teach students to prepare resumes, uh, we teach them how to apply for a job appropriately, how to dress appropriately, uh, we teach them professional communication. All the things that employers say all the time, man, I wish the students would show up on time. I wish they would dress appropriately, I wish they would communicate well. Well, we teach all of those things and we give your child an opportunity to learn all of that. Um in fact, each year I send in on some uh mock interviews for one of the high schools here that are just a blast to do. We spend pretty much the greater portion of an entire day putting students through a uh mock interview for uh a position. Each year we kind of change what the uh imaginary position is that they're applying for. Uh, but we give them a hard time. You know, we we make it realistic for them so that they understand what it really is like to have to go out and apply for a job. Um, you know, a lot of that is really just learned through the grit of um having to show up every day to class and to do all the things that it takes to check the boxes and complete one of our workforce ed programs. Um, you know, I I have to brag a little bit. Uh this past year in 2022, our students earned about 8,000 certifications across the school district. Now, those certifications range from sixth grade all the way up to 12th grade. Um, and the certifications vary because for the middle schoolers, most of the middle schoolers are earning what we call a digital tool certification. And digital tools are kind of these foundational computer skills, like they might get a Microsoft Word certification, or they might get a uh Google Docs or Google Sheets certification. But what that does is it gives that student that self-efficacy that I can accomplish something. You know, look at this thing that I've done, and it prepares them to take the more difficult certifications later. In the eighth grade, we have um uh uh quite a few students earning the social media strategist certification, which um it it says to an employer that this is a person who has all the skills necessary to create a social media campaign to market a product for you. So if a student's interested in going into marketing and business, that social media strategist certification sets them up for that. But then once they get into high school, the the the sky is the limit. Across the state of Florida in this past year, the governor was bragging about 7,500 entrepreneurship and small business certifications being earned around the state. Well, I'm here to tell you that 800 of those came from right here in Escambia County. 800 students are walking around Escambia County right now with the skill set to own their own business. They've they've proven that they can make a business plan and they know how to acquire funding and they know how to market a product and go through the entire life cycle of a business because that certification requires them to know all of those skills ahead of time. And the list goes on and on. There are there are thousands of certifications that students have earned in the in the past year or so across our district that are ready to go to work right now. And if employers are looking for uh someone to hire with the right skill set, all they have to do is say which of these certifications align with the needs of what we're looking for in employee. And that is a great place to start.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

And that's amazing that the student could put that on their resume because I wasn't joking in the intro, I felt there are so many aspects of adulting that I'm like, really, this is what I've been waiting for. This is so sad. But one of them was that um, you know, job application aspect, because I started out self-employed, had my little side business, and then um, you know, decided to get a quote unquote real job. But it would have been so helpful to have both the entrepreneur um skill set in in a in a classroom setting, not just passed down from like my mom, um, but also to have it uh the certifications on my resume to say, I don't have experience, but I've got, I do have this and it's and it's certified and it's validated by another person, not just like a family member.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Oh, that's absolutely right. The um Department of Economic Opportunity uh works very closely with the career source boards around the state each year to provide a list of certifications that have been vetted by the industry that uh are recognized as having value and importance. So we're not offering certifications that haven't been vetted and um proven to be beneficial to a young person's career. So absolutely, you know, it it I've seen some resumes come through my office recently for positions that we have uh advertised within the school district, and right at the top, they list all of these certifications for computer skills that they have, and I'm going, wow, we have high schoolers that have these too. So it's wonderful. It's wonderful to see that. And some of those applications we've been seeing are people who were products of Escambia County and earned some of those certifications with us. So wonderful thing to see come full circle.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Now there might be some people who would feel like um, oh, well, this program it would distract students from their education. They feel like, you know, maybe they should just focus on math, science, reading, writing, that sort of thing. What's your take?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Well, I I would argue that there are quite a few young people who come to school because of the career and technical education programs. Um, you know, I have been stopped multiple times in the small community where I live on the north end of the county by people who have said stopped me and said, the agri-science teacher at my high school saved my life. Um, not once, not twice, but many times, that has been said to me. Because there are there are 900 students at Tate High School that are taking agri science right now. 900 that are committed to four years of studying about agriculture. And now some of those are veterinary science, some of those are agricultural mechanics, some of those are turf management, but every one of those students has a reason to come to school every day because there's something that was important to them that they believe in that gave them a reason to get up and come to school. It's not just something abstract like I'm I'm learning math, science, social studies, language arts, all of those things are very important. But in the workforce education arena, we integrate those core subject areas into relevant um life, job work skills and experience that are hand experiences that are hand on hands-on, that are project-based, that give you a chance to apply what you're learning. And so to kind of sum that up, there's a lot of students out there that come to school just for the opportunity to get that hands-on experience.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Where they might not even want to go to school otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

We offer career and technical student organizations uh like the FFA organization. Um the the students in the uh FFA program at Tate High School and several other schools around the district this past year uh collaborated to produce meals for 60,000 meals in one day. They packaged um uh just uh pallets and pallets of food that the the students work together to orchestrate and make this thing happen, and you should see it happening. It is a big production when they're doing this. Um and when you're a part of something big like that, you start to see that all the stuff I'm learning in my classroom about, let's say, food insecurity and and food production and and agriculture and how the the future may be impacted like this, it lets what's happening on the pages of a book or or on the screen of a computer come to life for you. And you put a thousand kids in a room that just produced 60,000 meals to feed other people, it gives it meaning to them. Um so yeah, yeah, I'd say that gives a kid a reason to come to school, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Um, right when you said that they have to apply what they learn, I just was remembering my shop class because as we already covered, that is what it was called in 1940. Um and I remember going, Wait, I gotta measure.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Uh-huh. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I gotta do math. What? I just want a napkin holder. Now I won't lie. I I did convince a boy to do it for me.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

But I went into sales, so it fits, it fits. But I love the application of it's like the two things coming together in order to benefit the student, which ultimately, as you said, benefits the community because they tend to stay. And that really creates like a cohesive picture of what's possible.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, it's funny that you you brought up measurement because uh that's one of the things that employers tell us all the time. I want somebody who can read a tape measure, who can read a set of blueprints, who can, you know, draw me a design in CAD that is going to be accurate right down to the microns. And um, we're teaching students to do that. You know, we're giving them those skills, and it's not just something academic. Um, we let them build a rover that is made of uh composite materials that can be folded up and stored on a spacecraft to uh have human-powered um locomotion on a an alien body. That's a real thing. It would like we really have an engineering program where a bunch of students made a NASA rover that has been a prize-winning rover uh at multiple years of competitions, and uh, it's the most amazing thing to see. I walked in the classroom one day after buying a lot of materials for the teacher. I just wanted to see what they were doing. And the students were vacuum bonding composite, carbon fiber, and acrylic materials to make the lightest set of wheels that were three inches or I'm sorry, three feet in diameter, but weighed like a feather to me. And I thought, wow, this is amazing. High school kids are doing this, high school kids. So yeah, it it puts some real world relevance to that measurement because you better get it all right if you're gonna put it on a spaceship and you know, fly it into outer space. Okay, full disclosure, we never actually flew the rover to a, you know, uh a um extraterrestrial body, but they could, you know, uh, and you should see the rover. It is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

I'm just gonna say it kids nowadays are way cooler than I ever was. If there's a parent listening right now. And they are thinking, oh wow, I want to make sure my kid plugs into this. Because you know, sometimes parents, they're well, they're always overwhelmed, right? And they don't always know what's going on at school. Teenagers, this might be news to you, not known for their communication, right? So the parent may not even know that these uh awesome resources are available at their school. So if a par what would you tell a parent if they wanted to get their kid involved in this?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Sure. First of all, it is no surprise to me. I have two little boys at home that can't remember where they put their socks and they're on their feet. Um so I I get it. Um but there we do have some uh communication methods that would really help a parent, you know, kind of get a better idea of what options are out there. The most important one that I can suggest to all the parents out there is come to the choice expo that we offer each year. So every year, around the October, November-ish timeframe, we conduct a choice expo where we bring all of the programs that we offer around the district, and not just for workforce education, but any choice program. Our magnet schools, for example, they all come and set up a display at Washington High School. We take over the um atrium, the cafeteria, and the gymnasium, and you will get to see every program that's in the district offered there. And it gives you a chance to kind of have one-stop shopping, to go around and talk to parents from the program, students from the program, teachers of the program, and you can touch and feel the things that are happening and get your questions answered all at once there. It's a it's a good opportunity to, if your student doesn't really know exactly what they want to do, to let them go wander around for a couple hours and just talk with folks and see where their interest goes. Um and uh, you know, like I said before, there there isn't every option everywhere, but there is an option that's appropriate for you somewhere. You just need to come and look. Uh each year we also send home a mailer to every parent of a child that is in one of the grades that's eligible for school choice. We send home this mailer that shows them how to apply for school choice and and gives them a little bit of background. But um, you know, it they can always feel free to reach out to the workforce education department. If we don't know the answer, we probably know who does. Our website lists all of our career academies on the school district. If you just go to the school district website and search departments for workforce education, within that website, you're gonna find a list of all of our almost 70 career academies. Um there's some information there on how to contact the teacher of that academy. You can email them and ask them questions. They love to hear that. Um so you know, reach out and ask us. But the most important thing is come to the choice expo that happens in the fall.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

And specific dates would be on the website, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

That's correct. And you can look on the school choice website for the school district or or on our website when it gets close to the event, we start putting it at the top of the page and the banner ads.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

What's the website do you know off the top of your head?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

It's uh well, it's school loop, it's ECSDFL, that's school. Okay, if you just do a Google search for a Scammy Accounting system, we can handle it.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

We can handle a Google search. Absolutely. Um Okay, perfect. And before we wrap up, my final question is you know, you are born and bred Pensacola, right? Obviously very proud of where you live. You're proud of the kid, your kids, your actual biological kids, you're proud of the kids in the county. I can tell just by the way you speak about them.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

So, what do you want people to know about Escambia County Public Schools?

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Sure. We we do a great job here, and all of our students are are demonstrating that they have the grit that it takes to be successful in life and successful in a career. And um, you know, you just kind of have to open your eyes and look around and see all the successes around you. Um there are a lot of things that that happen across the school district where our students display the um, you know, the skills that they have, the um imagination and creativity that they have. And a lot of times they just need an opportunity to be able to shine. So um, you know, I I would suggest that parents get involved and um, you know, see what you can do to contribute to the schools. When we have an advisory council meeting, show up. You know, come to the advisory council meeting and tell us some things that that you'd like to see done differently, better, or you know, applaud us for what we're doing great. Um, when we have that school choice expo, come by and shake my hand and uh, you know, tell me tell me what's going on in your neck of the woods and I'll uh show you some great things that are happening elsewhere. But uh, you know, we should be proud of this community because um there's a lot of students out there that are producing things that um will really blow your mind if you just kind of open up and and you know take a moment to stop and look and see it. Um, you know, there there are kids making rovers for extraterrestrial bodies, for goodness sake. You know, there are students 3D printing ideas that could one day change the world and and revolutionize the you know medicine or engineering or you know cybersecurity. So um, you know, just keep supporting our schools, show up to the advisory council meetings and um, you know, help us all help our students to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

That was perfect. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County School District. Special thanks to Pine Forest High School for the recording studio facilities and hospitality.