Margarita had toured our manufacturing facility in person during a summer externship in which she also learned about Nepris. It seemed like a natural fi t to have her students take a virtual tour of our facility using the online platform, so they could see a real-life application of oxygen therapy that would bring relevance to what they were learning. The virtual tour, which took place in her classroom earlier
this year, was a win-win scenario: Margarita’s students got a fi rst-hand look at how the concepts they were learning mattered, while we got to showcase our work and open students’ eyes to new career possibilities. Best of all, no one had to travel to pull this off. We found the virtual tour to be a great experience. We gave a short overview of who we are and what we do, and then we walked students through the plant. What was surprising to us was how engaged the students were. They were pointing out things in the background and asking us questions about them. They weren’t shy at all. Maybe it’s because they are so used to this type of technology. It’s part of their world; it’s how they interact nowadays. The students saw it as a valuable experience as well. “I thought this virtual fi eld trip was great, because it showed us practical applications to chemistry,” one student said in a video about the event. “To see that something was based here in San Antonio, [where] I could make a large impact in the medical fi eld, was amazing.” That’s exactly the kind of reaction we were hoping for. EO2 is actively involved in workforce development efforts in the San Antonio area. We belong to the San Antonio Manufacturer’s Association, which has created a work- force development initiative called the Alliance for Technol- ogy Education and Applied Math & Science (ATEAMS). The organization focuses on various ways to get youth involved in STEM education and expose them to career opportunities that exist. ATEAMS operates what it calls teacher externships, in which high school teachers are invited into local workplaces during a one-week period each summer. The teachers get to interact with industry personnel at work sites to see how we employ STEM concepts in our jobs. It’s a great way for teachers to be able to answer the question their students always ask, which is: “When will I ever use this?” As we were trying to fi gure out how to scale these experi- ences to more classrooms and continue them throughout the school year, we began looking for a solution that would give
employers remote access to students and teachers through online video conferences—and we discovered Nepris. What they did matched our goals perfectly. With triple-digit growth in sales, we’ll need new em- ployees across all aspects of our business, including the manufacturing process. But attracting students to careers in manufacturing will require changing their perceptions of what these jobs involve, and helping them understand how manufacturing has evolved over the years. Many people don’t really realize the kinds of jobs we offer.
These aren’t the standard jobs that people think of when they think about manufacturing, like the old Ford conveyor belt plants. They are all highly skilled jobs, working with technol- ogy in an air-conditioned environment. With Nepris, we can reach many more students in an easier fashion. The platform helps STEM employers expand their workforce development programs by allowing professionals to connect with students without leaving the offi ce. Our company can schedule informational sessions and invite teachers from all over the country to partici- pate, removing geographical barriers and broadening our reach signifi cantly. One of the things I really like about Nepris is its conve- nience. Nepris guides and monitors the online sessions. There is minimal setup for both parties. And it’s very easy to set aside an hour from your day to do something like that. If we did a bus tour, we would be looking at a half a day or more, and a lot of hassle in getting clearances—and we have some spots where we’re not allowed to take students for safety reasons. But we can take them there quite easily on a virtual tour.
Nepris is a very powerful platform for facilitating industry engagement and workforce development. It enables us to do a lot of things we otherwise couldn’t do. And it’s not only companies like ours that benefi t from these interactions; the students benefi t as well.
Mark Niederauer has a PhD in Biochemical Engineering with a focus in Genetics from Iowa State University and is a Fulbright Scholar, earning the equivalent of a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering at the Universität Stuttgart in Germany. He is very involved in workforce development and is on the
Fulbright Scholar, earning the equivalent of a Master of Science degree in Environmental
board of Workforce Solutions Alamo and the Alliance for Technology Education in Applied Math & Science.
June 2017 |
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