Speaker 1: Today, we're going to be talking about IBM's role in
Speaker 1: an educational model known as p Tech, which was established
Speaker 1: inn with a mission to empower students with the skills
Speaker 1: they need for careers in STEM. We'll be talking with
Speaker 1: Joe L. Mangan, executive director of the p Tech Program
Speaker 1: at IBM, as well as PTech graduate and hardware developer
Speaker 1: Eric Cholula Martinez and p tech graduate and IBM apprentice
Speaker 1: Suhlia Karam Doran. If you want to hear previous entries
Speaker 1: in this series, you can simply look up the episodes
Speaker 1: labeled smart Talks and our feed from earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and you can also check out the episodes of smart
Speaker 1: Talks on the I Heart Media podcast tech Stuff. And
Speaker 1: now let's jump right into our conversation. Joel, let's start
Speaker 1: with you. Can you tell us a bit about yourself,
Speaker 1: your background and how you wound up working for IBM. Yes,
Speaker 1: so um I joined pe Tech just about over a
Speaker 1: year ago. I am actually a recent American. I was
Speaker 1: born in Africa in the country call Cameroon and uh
Speaker 1: and I moved to the US about eight years ago
Speaker 1: after you know, doing work and studying in in the
Speaker 1: UK and working all over Europe, in Student and Denmark,
Speaker 1: mainly in IBMS consulting business. So I joined our CSR
Speaker 1: team a couple of years ago and this has been
Speaker 1: my most exciting work at IBM doing this work at
Speaker 1: p Tech. Now, what led you to get involved specifically
Speaker 1: in education? UM? Education has always played a really important
Speaker 1: role in my life. I have benefited from a lot
Speaker 1: of opportunities that my my ps did not get and
Speaker 1: the outcomes in our lives has been is very very
Speaker 1: clear to see us as we've all got gotten older. Also,
Speaker 1: my mom was an avid believer in education. She stopped
Speaker 1: her education at the age of thirteen, and she was
Speaker 1: so insistent that we get the best education that we
Speaker 1: that we could get and that we took it seriously.
Speaker 1: I was really inspirational was that after she had six
Speaker 1: children and she was thirty five at the time, she
Speaker 1: went back to school and she studied to become a
Speaker 1: teacher and she was an elementary school teacher for the
Speaker 1: rest of our life. So it's something that has been
Speaker 1: a really passionating in our family. So we work a
Speaker 1: lot in education, but mainly in access to education, and
Speaker 1: this is my first foray really into the systematic part
Speaker 1: of education. Well, let's talk about about p tech for
Speaker 1: a second then, So, so first of all, can you
Speaker 1: just tell us what p tech is, what it stands for,
Speaker 1: and then how does it work. PETE stands for Pathways
Speaker 1: to Technology Early College, high School and so now you know,
Speaker 1: I we just call it pe tech UM. So PETER
Speaker 1: was conceived ten years ago to have a different and
Speaker 1: innovative way to tackle the skills gap. I think we
Speaker 1: can talk about the skills gap in a minute, but
Speaker 1: focus really on how p tech works. UM. Pe tech
Speaker 1: allows ninth graders in a p tech school to complete
Speaker 1: a STEM related Associates degree and the high school diploma
Speaker 1: at the same time. So the aim of the program
Speaker 1: is that while you're in high school that you complete
Speaker 1: UM that your p tech program with a STEM Related
Speaker 1: Associates degree as well as your high school diploma. Obviously,
Speaker 1: so instead of having a nine to twelve model, so
Speaker 1: the K to twelve model that we're all familiar with
Speaker 1: is a kid to fourteen, which means that's an extra
Speaker 1: two years that a student may use to be able
Speaker 1: to complete both the diploma and and the the associate's
Speaker 1: degree in a STEM field. What is unique about petech
Speaker 1: is the role that industry plays. So there are three
Speaker 1: parties to every p tech school. There's the high school,
Speaker 1: there is the community college which offers the associates degree,
Speaker 1: and then there's the business. What the business does in
Speaker 1: p tech, which which is really unique in this program
Speaker 1: in education programs, is that it aligns the degree pathway
Speaker 1: to what is a growing job area, job area that
Speaker 1: is in high demand for for the future of work.
Speaker 1: And then the business provides mentoring for the students, which
Speaker 1: is to help them build a series of eleven critical
Speaker 1: skills that are really important for for for work these days.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing we do is to provide
Speaker 1: paid internships to provide real experience at work and to
Speaker 1: expand the network of students UH and also to to
Speaker 1: to domestify working in the tech space. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: the students who complete and become graduates of p tech
Speaker 1: are first in line to be able to take jobs
Speaker 1: in the companies that their partnered within their p tech school. So, so, Helia,
Speaker 1: can you tell us a bit about yourself and what
Speaker 1: led you to get involved with p tech. So when
Speaker 1: my parents started their divorce, I was in my last
Speaker 1: year of middle school and my dad was the sole
Speaker 1: provider of the household. My mom was a stay at
Speaker 1: home mom, and the reality for me at that time
Speaker 1: was since I won't be with dad, I don't have
Speaker 1: money for college and it was really scary. And p
Speaker 1: Tech was starting in the high school in our area,
Speaker 1: and I said, hey, this is a really great opportunity
Speaker 1: if I get chosen to get a college education without
Speaker 1: having to pay for it. So when I chose to apply,
Speaker 1: it was just I had a minor interest in tech
Speaker 1: from when I lived in the Bronx and I was
Speaker 1: a part of the Lego robotics team at my elementary school,
Speaker 1: and I thought, if I could just apply that little
Speaker 1: piece of knowledge to whatever coursework all face in high school,
Speaker 1: then maybe I have a good chance at surviving college
Speaker 1: in high school together. So, do you still have a
Speaker 1: particular interest in robotics or have you moved on to
Speaker 1: other things. Pe Tech really helped me realize there are
Speaker 1: multiple sectors in tech, and it's just not engineering per se.
Speaker 1: Right now, I'm a part of the UX Design Apprenticeship
Speaker 1: because during my time of Pechech I got to be
Speaker 1: a CSR intern and I got to realize helping people
Speaker 1: and interacting with people is something I really love and
Speaker 1: robotics wasn't anything like that, so it wasn't my passion.
Speaker 1: And you said, sorry, just for people who aren't familiar.
Speaker 1: So this user experience. But what is CSR. Oh, it's
Speaker 1: the Corferent Social Responsibility Team at IBM. Oh great, and uh, Eric,
Speaker 1: the same thing. Can you tell us a bit about
Speaker 1: your background, about yourself and your interests and what led
Speaker 1: you into p tech. Yeah, so what led me to
Speaker 1: pechech was I went to the orientation where Rushie Davis
Speaker 1: talked about, um, how you can get a free associate
Speaker 1: degree along with your high school diploma, and I saw, uh,
Speaker 1: you know what better way of getting a degree? It's free?
Speaker 1: And for sure I couldn't probably in debt if it
Speaker 1: wasn't for for this program. Um. So I'm very thankful
Speaker 1: to be tech right now, I'm a hardware developer at IBM.
Speaker 1: I what I do mainly is characterized ships and characterize
Speaker 1: things inside main frames to better understand our systems and
Speaker 1: to further progress than for future generations of IBM machines.
Speaker 1: Now I'm curious, well, what does it mean to characterize
Speaker 1: a chip? So it would just to be to stress
Speaker 1: test them. Have you ever played a video game like
Speaker 1: UH in terms of like a console or PC, as
Speaker 1: you could tell, like stressing the system would UH differ
Speaker 1: between you know, playing a game that runs sixty frames
Speaker 1: per second versus just googling something. So we're just taking
Speaker 1: different UH workloads and seeing how they how much power,
Speaker 1: how much UH ampires and stuff like that the chips
Speaker 1: would produce when running different stress tests. Oh excellent, Okay cool?
Speaker 1: Will the new BioShock melt my computer? I don't think
Speaker 1: that's my question? But Joel, let's come back to you.
Speaker 1: So if you think about p tech as an answer,
Speaker 1: what is the question? What are the problems it is
Speaker 1: designed to solve? So, UM, if we mentioned the skills
Speaker 1: cap before and and just to explain what the skills
Speaker 1: gap is, is that in the marketplace there are and
Speaker 1: this has been consistent for for modern ten years UH.
Speaker 1: The technology is changing jobs very very quickly. So there
Speaker 1: used to be a couple of companies, tech companies that
Speaker 1: needed technology skills. Now every company needs technology skills. And
Speaker 1: what we've seen is that the the the jobs that
Speaker 1: are available in the marketplace, UM, there are not enough
Speaker 1: people with skills to actually feel those jobs. Who have
Speaker 1: the skills to fill those jobs. The paradox of all
Speaker 1: of this is that there actually is a large population
Speaker 1: of people who are unemployed, and so so the labor
Speaker 1: market has people who could be taking these jobs, but
Speaker 1: they are not. They don't have the skills to take
Speaker 1: these job. So that's that's the skills go That's one
Speaker 1: thing that Petech is trying to solve. The second thing
Speaker 1: that Pete is trying to solve, which is much more fundamental,
Speaker 1: and it speaks to why we start at ninth grade,
Speaker 1: is that one way of looking at the labor market
Speaker 1: is to look at what that gap is between the
Speaker 1: jobs that are available and and and the skills, and
Speaker 1: that skills gap right now as we're speaking, or at
Speaker 1: least before COVID was about seven hundred thousand tech jobs
Speaker 1: that we're going on field because the skills were not
Speaker 1: available in the marketplace. The other way to look at
Speaker 1: that is like why are they not available in the marketplace?
Speaker 1: And if there were, like which types of people do
Speaker 1: not have access to those jobs? So there's sometimes where
Speaker 1: it's not just a matter of skills, but it's a
Speaker 1: matter of opportunity. So are you getting the option to
Speaker 1: get a degree. Are you getting the option to get
Speaker 1: a degree in the in the in the right area
Speaker 1: that puts you on a path to be able to
Speaker 1: get a job. Do you have the networks to actually
Speaker 1: get a job? Would you even find out if this
Speaker 1: job was going in a place like i DM, do
Speaker 1: you have the networks to be able to get into that?
Speaker 1: And so if we look at our society, there are
Speaker 1: many people who are just locked out of the opportunity.
Speaker 1: So there's also an opportunity gap. And what Pete is
Speaker 1: trying to solve is like in the communities that businesses working,
Speaker 1: how can we create a program away for people who
Speaker 1: have talent to be matched with the opportunity to get
Speaker 1: into these jobs, but also to acquire the skills and
Speaker 1: the credentials to get the job. So if you look
Speaker 1: at pro tech design, it disintegrated curriculum where you get
Speaker 1: your associates degree, and then where the Associates degree is
Speaker 1: really the output is putting you in a place where
Speaker 1: you can get that job. But then everything about the
Speaker 1: mentorship and the paid work experiences is about expanding that
Speaker 1: network and giving you access to where the jobs are.
Speaker 1: So you have a strong network and you have also
Speaker 1: a strong visibility to be able to get into the
Speaker 1: into these jobs. So, Joel, this might overlap with the
Speaker 1: answer you just gave, but maybe this will get it
Speaker 1: a different aspect of it. P tech was created about
Speaker 1: a decade ago, right and roughly in the wake of
Speaker 1: the Great Recession, when obviously the job's outlook was or
Speaker 1: had recently been pretty grim for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: How has the world changed since then? Does p tech
Speaker 1: still address the same problems it was originally meant to solve,
Speaker 1: or have new challenges and opportunities presented themselves over the
Speaker 1: course of the lifetime of p tech. So when, yeah,
Speaker 1: when petech was created, the unemployment rate I think was
Speaker 1: about ten percent after um, you know, the financial crisis.
Speaker 1: And when you look at this big economic shocks that
Speaker 1: we get, like COVID and the financial crisis, they always
Speaker 1: lead to to unemployment. What has been strange about what
Speaker 1: passed not so strange because we see the acceleration of technology,
Speaker 1: the next relation of technology has only gone faster and faster.
Speaker 1: Is that even in those types of recession and even
Speaker 1: now when you look at COVID, the jobs that still
Speaker 1: continue to remain on field as still continue to grow
Speaker 1: and be stable at tech jobs. So in a way,
Speaker 1: pe tech has is more relevant now than than ever,
Speaker 1: and there's a recognition of that actually in education systems
Speaker 1: around around the world. So just in the past eighteen months,
Speaker 1: PETE has grown from about in from eight countries to
Speaker 1: twenty five countries. And that's because many policymakers around the
Speaker 1: world are now really seeing the need to be adopting
Speaker 1: these types of programs into the public education systems that
Speaker 1: really better prepare people to feel the skills guide, but
Speaker 1: also in a way that creates that opens of opportunity
Speaker 1: for people within communities to be able to get access
Speaker 1: to these jobs. So I would say it's much more
Speaker 1: relevant and now than ever. I'm we're seeing it in
Speaker 1: the adoption rates. If you could speak to some specifics
Speaker 1: and concrete examples, what kind of new tech and tech
Speaker 1: relategy jobs are really emerging today and in the near
Speaker 1: future as opposed to in the recent past. Yes, so
Speaker 1: there are a few jobs that simply I did not
Speaker 1: exist five years ago, but are really very prominent now
Speaker 1: or when past when not as prom prominent. So so
Speaker 1: if we look at cloud and develops jobs, um, there
Speaker 1: there are new versions of those now that are relevant
Speaker 1: in the marketplace and that I've developed AI jobs are
Speaker 1: frankly new in many areas. But then if you look
Speaker 1: at much more of the stable tech jobs like software development,
Speaker 1: UM hardware development, which is something that Eric does, UM,
Speaker 1: you see that there's been not only constant, but they're growing.
Speaker 1: And also what you early is doing is is user
Speaker 1: experience design. We're creating so many more products right now
Speaker 1: that in the hands of consumers that are not mechanical anymore.
Speaker 1: Where it's about how the consumers react with products and
Speaker 1: how they interact with them. So there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of new jobs that have been created, jobs that have
Speaker 1: changed aged. But the most important thing is that the
Speaker 1: acceleration of technology means that this continues to we continue
Speaker 1: to see a very very strong demand in these new jobs.
Speaker 1: So I guess, as you just alluded to it, it's
Speaker 1: not just that students who are preparing to enter the
Speaker 1: workforce today need specific technical skills that are relevant to
Speaker 1: the jobs that exist, but they also need to be
Speaker 1: able to adapt to a constantly changing set of requirements
Speaker 1: for for the you know, the technological world we live in.
Speaker 1: So I guess this is a question for all three
Speaker 1: of you. Maybe Joel, we can start with you. Do
Speaker 1: you think adaptation itself is a skill that can be
Speaker 1: taught if the tech industry is constantly and rapidly changing,
Speaker 1: Does the technology education require training on how to adapt
Speaker 1: to new skills? I think what we what we've all experienced,
Speaker 1: I guess as students UM and going through the university
Speaker 1: and going through college, and is that the education system
Speaker 1: just changes a little slower than the technology space uh
Speaker 1: and and specifically tech because tech is just moving so
Speaker 1: fast and frankly, it is hard for any sector, even
Speaker 1: policies to catch up. UM. So, what I think is
Speaker 1: unique about Peter in the way that it helps people
Speaker 1: react to change and continue to learn. Is this idea
Speaker 1: that we spend a lot more time with the young people,
Speaker 1: exposing them to what happens in the industry. I think
Speaker 1: giving people a sense of what is happening in the
Speaker 1: industry and having them giving them the chance to work
Speaker 1: with mentors, and giving them the chance to work with
Speaker 1: the internships, seeing how just the things that they play
Speaker 1: with in school, how much it changes by the time
Speaker 1: they get to the internship, how much it changes by
Speaker 1: the time they get to work. It gives us It
Speaker 1: gives them the same experience as we have at work,
Speaker 1: where we know we have to continually learn because it's
Speaker 1: very clear to us in the way we work just
Speaker 1: how much things are changing and that we have to
Speaker 1: keep up our skills. So I think it really starting
Speaker 1: and giving young people that exposure way be for they
Speaker 1: have to face that world is something that I think
Speaker 1: is a critical component of PEA Tech. And so Suhalia
Speaker 1: and Eric, do you have thoughts about this. Did your
Speaker 1: educational experience or does your educational experience incorporate that feeling,
Speaker 1: that feeling that you need to learn how to adapt
Speaker 1: in addition to just learning, you know, what skills are
Speaker 1: required today. Uh? Yeah, I could definitely say that it's
Speaker 1: kind of something you learn while in college or ear
Speaker 1: decided it's not about just prorarium something. It's about learning
Speaker 1: how to fix it. It's about identifying the problem, looking
Speaker 1: at it through multiple UH lenses, and determining what solutions
Speaker 1: are there, and then eliminating those solutions so you get
Speaker 1: to the best one. I personally think that learning to
Speaker 1: adapt doesn't even really only to tech. During my time
Speaker 1: in pe Tech, all of my teachers, whether it be
Speaker 1: in English or social studies. They explained that as time
Speaker 1: goes on, things have to change, and just because you
Speaker 1: learn how to do something one way doesn't mean it's
Speaker 1: always going to be that way. And understanding how to study,
Speaker 1: understanding how to research are all important parts of adapting
Speaker 1: and making yourself a better person so you're better equipped
Speaker 1: to solve problems. All right, let's come back to Joel.
Speaker 1: Here is the need for new technological skills something that
Speaker 1: primarily affects people in the tech industry, say software and
Speaker 1: hardware developers, or does this apply to other fields as well.
Speaker 1: We have a belief in the company at IBM that
Speaker 1: all jobs are going to be impacted by by technology.
Speaker 1: So we all, regardless of what we do. When I
Speaker 1: say technology, the AI specifically an automation impacting all jobs.
Speaker 1: Um if so, I mean if you if your restaurant
Speaker 1: right now, your interaction with technology is massive, especially during
Speaker 1: of it you're probably feeling, you know, most of your
Speaker 1: your orders and your revenue through a tech interface for
Speaker 1: for for delivery and take out during this period. And
Speaker 1: that's just a small example. So we believe that no
Speaker 1: matter what job you're in, it is really important to
Speaker 1: get to understand the technologies that are impacting our lives,
Speaker 1: that are very much keen in our lives and are
Speaker 1: changing the nature of our work and are changing the
Speaker 1: nature of our society. One of the things that we've
Speaker 1: done alongside pe tech is to create a platform called
Speaker 1: open p tech, and open pe tech is really focused
Speaker 1: on this. It's about like really helping students, regardless of
Speaker 1: whether they're in p tech or outside p tech, to
Speaker 1: learn about these key technologies that are really transforming our lives.
Speaker 1: And they are cloud, artificial intelligence, there is a cyber u,
Speaker 1: there is blockchain and so and very much design design thinking,
Speaker 1: which is a way of how we solve problems. So
Speaker 1: these are some of the things that I really impacting allies,
Speaker 1: and I think everybody needs to understand them because they're
Speaker 1: impacting society, not just jobs. So I'm interested in the
Speaker 1: way that p tech fuses together secondary and post secondary
Speaker 1: education in the one unified pathway. I guess, first Joel,
Speaker 1: what was the thinking behind that design? And then for
Speaker 1: Eric and to Helio, what is that experience? Like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm really interested to hear the experience of Eric and
Speaker 1: here and they they're thinking behind that is that pathways
Speaker 1: have been proven to impact completion. So they you see
Speaker 1: pathways a lot in education programs, and they've been shown
Speaker 1: that when you have built in pathways for students, you
Speaker 1: you help them complete whatever you're trying to get them
Speaker 1: to to to the goal. Um So it was another
Speaker 1: thing is that early college students that take part in
Speaker 1: any kind of early college ended up going to college.
Speaker 1: More so, those two things that way existing successful things
Speaker 1: within the education system were into p tech. Um So
Speaker 1: this pathway of using both high school and and college
Speaker 1: was something that was already proven to um at least
Speaker 1: they are taking the early college were already proven to
Speaker 1: work for students. The big difference that we brought in
Speaker 1: was that there was a real clear goal right now,
Speaker 1: and the goal was that you leave pe Tech with
Speaker 1: a degree. And so instead of just having early college
Speaker 1: courses where you can take whatever you like and just
Speaker 1: have access to early college, this is packaging in such
Speaker 1: a way that you're taking things at all together actually
Speaker 1: deliver you something that all of your early college opportunity
Speaker 1: is really focused on delivering you. This uh, this associate's degree,
Speaker 1: the associates degree is really the goal in p tech
Speaker 1: because the high school diploma, it's something that was created
Speaker 1: in the in the agree and economy, it's not enough
Speaker 1: anymore to take you to really guarantee you a career.
Speaker 1: So but at the same time, you don't need a
Speaker 1: four year degree to be able to get into some
Speaker 1: of the some some really good well paid jobs right now.
Speaker 1: I mean the jobs that is advertising right now do
Speaker 1: not need a four year degree. So there was this
Speaker 1: point about the asocis degree, which is a critical point
Speaker 1: to get students too and using these pathways together to
Speaker 1: allow them to have a strong pathway that was guided
Speaker 1: where they will be housed in a in a in
Speaker 1: a in a high school and don't have a drop
Speaker 1: off points where they have to like finish one and
Speaker 1: then say okay, I'm going to apply to that and
Speaker 1: move into a different system. Those things have proven to
Speaker 1: help students complete So that's why the pathway and is
Speaker 1: using of those pathways was important in the design and
Speaker 1: uh Eric and to Haley had what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on this, What was the experience like and did you have,
Speaker 1: say friends or peers to compare the experience with who
Speaker 1: weren't involved in educational pathways that fused together the associate's
Speaker 1: degree with the high school experience the same way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so for me, the experience went pretty smoothly. UM, but
Speaker 1: that was fortunate. UM. I think it definitely did sump
Speaker 1: me up for success without a doubt in terms of
Speaker 1: like I had exposures to robotics as uh to Haley
Speaker 1: had and uh I did there for basically all my
Speaker 1: years in in high school. And not only that, it
Speaker 1: kind of translated into other courses I took at a
Speaker 1: college level. And in addition to that, it also sets
Speaker 1: up a nice foundation, so I didn't stop at my
Speaker 1: associate's degree. I continue to get my bachelor's. UM. It
Speaker 1: sets a nice foundation in terms of either you could
Speaker 1: stop at your associates or not and continue with your bachelor's.
Speaker 1: I would say the p Tech experience is one of
Speaker 1: a kind that there's not anything you could compare it
Speaker 1: to if you've been through the traditional high school model,
Speaker 1: because you're taking high school classes alongside your college classes,
Speaker 1: and whether that be in the high school or on
Speaker 1: a college campus, they're very different. And when you have
Speaker 1: teachers like at my school that weren't a part of
Speaker 1: the p tech staff that would teach you alongside your
Speaker 1: non p tech student colleagues, it was just different seeing
Speaker 1: how everyone reacted to certain situations. I feel like petech
Speaker 1: prepares you more for the outside world, app like after
Speaker 1: high school, what that's gonna look like. Because during my
Speaker 1: time in pe tech, they were like, Hey, this is
Speaker 1: how you set yourself up for the future if you
Speaker 1: want to have an apprenticeship or an internship. And at
Speaker 1: the same time, my high school friends that weren't in
Speaker 1: p tech, we're just going about their high school experience, like, Hey,
Speaker 1: there's a football game on Friday, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I can't I have a test on Monday. For college,
Speaker 1: I got to study. So protech really teaches you how
Speaker 1: do you manage your parming yourself pretty well, and because
Speaker 1: of that, I feel like it prepared me a lot
Speaker 1: better for after high school graduation what life was going
Speaker 1: to look like. Okay, oh, that sounds like it comes
Speaker 1: back to the question about adaptation, the kind of skills
Speaker 1: that are applied to anything. Really Yeah, and I I think,
Speaker 1: I mean Eric somehow managed to just sailed by. But
Speaker 1: you know, when we talk to PETE students, we definitely
Speaker 1: see that the schedule can be grueling, which is wonderful
Speaker 1: that we have so many students who drive through. And
Speaker 1: so when we look at the graduates that come, we
Speaker 1: are to our to our business. We finished this, We're
Speaker 1: looking at people that we know as seriously motivated UM
Speaker 1: and and I've really shown just by going through this
Speaker 1: program that it means a lot to them and that
Speaker 1: they can work, and that they can they can drive through,
Speaker 1: and that they have discipline. So I think when Joel
Speaker 1: talks about discipline, it really starts the p text students
Speaker 1: apart from traditional high school model students, because when you
Speaker 1: step into the college realm of your course work, your
Speaker 1: college teachers look at you and go, hey, I know
Speaker 1: that your sixteen, but I'm not going to treat you
Speaker 1: like your sixteen because you're being held to a different
Speaker 1: standard here at the college. And I can't say, you
Speaker 1: know what, they're sixteen, I'm going to grade them differently
Speaker 1: because that's not the point of pe Tech. They're trying
Speaker 1: to give you the skills that adults have so you
Speaker 1: can go have a career outside of high school. And
Speaker 1: it was really motivational to be able to see that
Speaker 1: there were other people like me that I knew that
Speaker 1: held the same values and disciplines as I did. Because
Speaker 1: it made the high school. Part of my experience a
Speaker 1: lot easier because there were people whose goals aligned with mine,
Speaker 1: so it was a lot easier to make friends and
Speaker 1: have study groups. So, Joel, let's come back to you.
Speaker 1: What aspects of pe tech are you most proud of.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud about his systemic nature. That it is
Speaker 1: built into the education system. So what I mean is
Speaker 1: it starts to contribute to the body of knowledge that
Speaker 1: we have about like how do we think about the
Speaker 1: education system in the future. So, uh yeah, So I
Speaker 1: like the fact that that it's not like a private
Speaker 1: program that you know, a company has created on the site.
Speaker 1: It's actually built, really built in within the public education system,
Speaker 1: where the responsibility still for for the curriculum and everything
Speaker 1: is the same as everywhere else in the public education
Speaker 1: sector and sector. And then the business is coming to
Speaker 1: augment and add this alignment. The other effect of that
Speaker 1: is that we are reaching in and actually making sure
Speaker 1: that economic growth is inclusive. Um. So, if I just
Speaker 1: look at our own company, we are firmly creating talent
Speaker 1: and hiring talent from New York and we're making sure
Speaker 1: that by the time we're looking for talent, we are
Speaker 1: not just looking at those who have like uh, you know,
Speaker 1: who've managed to go to Harvard and to m I T.
Speaker 1: Which to make sure that we go and give access
Speaker 1: to young people to be able to to you know,
Speaker 1: get the qualifications that they need and build the skills
Speaker 1: that they need to be able to get access as
Speaker 1: to these jobs. UM. So the talent is there, and
Speaker 1: the talent needs opportunity. So the other part of that
Speaker 1: I'm really proud about it is that we are actually
Speaker 1: creating opportunity for talented young people to be able to
Speaker 1: bring that talent to benefit our business and that way
Speaker 1: where we get to grow or when the business is
Speaker 1: growing and then econ and the economy is growing, it's
Speaker 1: it's more inclusive with p TEK. So there's only two
Speaker 1: aspects that I'm really proud of. So, Eric and Shlia,
Speaker 1: a couple of questions for you to um and we'll
Speaker 1: start with you. So, Helia, what would you tell a
Speaker 1: student who's considering going down this path? What would you
Speaker 1: tell them about about pe TECH? I would tell them
Speaker 1: it's one of the most rewarding experiences that they could
Speaker 1: look back on as long as they're serious about it.
Speaker 1: When I look at my experience in high school. I
Speaker 1: would look at the students who didn't take petech as seriously,
Speaker 1: and I would feel bad because they're missing out on
Speaker 1: this great opportunity because they don't feel passionate about whatever
Speaker 1: degree we were urging, whether it be cybersecurity, computer science.
Speaker 1: So I would tell them, if you're not passionate about
Speaker 1: the degree that you're p tech school offers, don't feel
Speaker 1: like you have to apply because someone said this is
Speaker 1: a good idea and you should do it. As long
Speaker 1: as you're passionate about what you're learning about and you're
Speaker 1: passionate about making a change in the STEM field, you'll
Speaker 1: be okay. And there are gonna be so many people
Speaker 1: you'll meet along the way that are going to help you,
Speaker 1: whether it be academically or outside of that. In your internships,
Speaker 1: you'll have mentors who will tell you, hey, this is
Speaker 1: how you overcome this fear you have about public speaking.
Speaker 1: I used to be really shy, like something like this
Speaker 1: would have literally brought me to tears, how scared I
Speaker 1: would have been. But my mentor was there and was like, hey,
Speaker 1: baby steps, this is how we're going to accomplish being
Speaker 1: more outspoken and being more of a people person and
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for her, if it wasn't for petech,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be the person I am today. So I
Speaker 1: would tell them be passionate and take it very seriously
Speaker 1: because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity because after
Speaker 1: high school, petech isn't an option. Awesome, what about you, Eric,
Speaker 1: I would definitely tell them if this is the path
Speaker 1: they want to take, because there are different pea techs
Speaker 1: out there, like I think there are even some now
Speaker 1: that are catered to the medical field. Um. So I
Speaker 1: would tell them to make sure that's what you want
Speaker 1: to do, because sometimes you get into it or sometimes
Speaker 1: you're not really passionate about it and you end up
Speaker 1: leaving or you end up not caring. Um. Oh. And
Speaker 1: I would also tell them that, you know, definitely, um,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to take some time out of your
Speaker 1: day to study, take some time out every day to
Speaker 1: really just apply yourself because it is it is a workload, uh,
Speaker 1: but it is rewarding at the end. So I would
Speaker 1: say that the coolest part of pre tech is it's
Speaker 1: gender inclusive. And I'm really proud of the efforts that
Speaker 1: the pre tech model puts forward to include females in
Speaker 1: STEM professions. I remember when I took my first college class,
Speaker 1: the class before us that was in the room, there
Speaker 1: were only two girls in the class that left, and
Speaker 1: the rest of the class was boys. And when my
Speaker 1: class entered the room, I looked around and I realized
Speaker 1: there was actually a fifty split of girls and boys
Speaker 1: in that room, and it felt really empowering to know
Speaker 1: that me and my female classmates were going to be
Speaker 1: a part of generation of STEMP professionals that younger girls
Speaker 1: could look up to. And at my school we had
Speaker 1: the she Can stem event every March for Women's History Month,
Speaker 1: which was something I implemented during my time as an
Speaker 1: entering and being able to look at middle school girls
Speaker 1: in the school district and say, hey, I'm a girl
Speaker 1: in a computer profession, which is really crazy considering any
Speaker 1: time you ask them what an engineer looks like, what
Speaker 1: a computer scientist looks like, they usually say someone like
Speaker 1: Steve drops and no offense, but it's always a guy.
Speaker 1: And being able to be a girl that younger girls
Speaker 1: could look up to was really cool. And p tech
Speaker 1: is the only platform I've ever seen give women a
Speaker 1: chance to say, hey, I enjoy technology, and I'm really
Speaker 1: good at what I do. So they gave us a
Speaker 1: voice to be like, hey, I have something I can
Speaker 1: bring to the table, and it made you feel comfortable
Speaker 1: speaking out. So finally, Joel, what do you see for
Speaker 1: the future for this program and for programs like it? UM,
Speaker 1: I'll send of you my hopes. I hope that they
Speaker 1: continue to to inspire mkas and education leaders about how
Speaker 1: we should be looking. UM had continually improving our education
Speaker 1: system going forward with the world that we have right
Speaker 1: now and with the challenges that we we face. UM,
Speaker 1: I then that's that's so, that's that's my hopes we have.
Speaker 1: P tech is a mature model right now, is ten
Speaker 1: years old, and so it is clear that it's working.
Speaker 1: There has been a report that has just been published
Speaker 1: by an independent party m NDRC, which has shown that
Speaker 1: students are actually getting better outcoms as a resort of
Speaker 1: of p tech. We're seeing as more schools mature than
Speaker 1: more of our graduates going to college and getting hired.
Speaker 1: Also in companies like our like ours and there's nobs
Speaker 1: are growing. So from an impact perspective, we we we
Speaker 1: know that it works UM, so we are really looking
Speaker 1: for making sure that that we the publishing poblicy makers
Speaker 1: get inspired by it and and and take it up
Speaker 1: and implemented in as many places as possible. What I'm
Speaker 1: excited about is that I think it's a privilege to
Speaker 1: get to work on some of the problems that we're
Speaker 1: working on as a company. We just by the nature
Speaker 1: of being a large globle company, we get to see
Speaker 1: really interesting problems that are brought to us via clients
Speaker 1: that helped to change the world. And I think it's
Speaker 1: wonderful that we are creating the opportunity for people who
Speaker 1: are talented like as Failier and and Eric to be
Speaker 1: able to bring their talents to work on these types
Speaker 1: of problems. It's I think we should make sure that
Speaker 1: that people inside to get the chance to work on
Speaker 1: world changing things. And so I'm really excited by the
Speaker 1: fact that we are working in areas where we're giving
Speaker 1: students real opportunity to take that talents and contribute to
Speaker 1: work problems that they can be really proud it off.
Speaker 1: And so and then so I want to see pe
Speaker 1: Tech in more states, in more schools, and just continue
Speaker 1: to see the model grow both in the US and internationally.
Speaker 1: All Right, well, thanks again to Joel so Halia and
Speaker 1: Eric for chatting with us today. Again, if you want
Speaker 1: to hear more from this series, you can look up
Speaker 1: the episodes of our show as well as episodes of
Speaker 1: tech Stuff labeled smart Talks. To learn more about smart Talks,
Speaker 1: you can go to IBM dot com slash smart Talks,
Speaker 1: and to read more about p tech you can check
Speaker 1: out www dot PTech dot org. And of course, if
Speaker 1: you want to hear other episodes of Stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: Your Mind, you can find us wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer
Speaker 1: Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in
Speaker 1: touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other,
Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to
Speaker 1: say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
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